Encore
by Wolfguard21
Summary: Naruto gets sent back in time during the hopeless final battle with Madara in the 4th war. From there he does everything he can to make sure things don't turn out the same way again. Pairings undecided, Strong! Naruto, Smart! Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hi people, this is my first attempt at writing a story, ever and I'm really excited to do it. This story is probably going to feature a godlike-Naruto and some bad clichés but bear with me. Constructive criticism is needed and flames are appreciated moreso. Hope you like it.**

"speech"

' _thought'_

 **"demonic or very noteworthy"**

Some techniques will be in Japanese and some will be in English depending on their popularity. (I can't honestly have characters screaming spiralling sphere). If it's an original jutsu it'll be in English.

Chapter 1: Exposition

* * *

Pain.

Agonizing and mind-numbing pain was all he felt from the moment he regained the dregs of consciousness. His body felt like it was on fire and his mind felt like the source of said fire. Groaning heavily and trying to move his hands to his throbbing head he could feel his muscles and body revolting against every movement.

" **About damn time you woke up brat."** A disembodied voice grumbled to him within the confines of his own mentality. The man, unsurprised by this oddity just continued to groan, still in too much pain to form thoughts coherently.

Feeling a slight tug at his consciousness, the man decided to let the force pull him in his own subconscious and woke up in a giant sewer like place with dim lights and ankle-deep water all around. In front of him was a huge metallic gate with bars as thick as humans and a massive tag in the middle with the Kanji for 'Seal' on it. Behind the giant cage was an enormous presence which made the Titanic cage feel insignificant.

The man, with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes with three prominent whisker marks on his face, looked into the cell's darkness. A moment later a pair of massive eyes opened to meet his gaze.

"Kurama" The man started bluntly," how am I not dead? The last thing I remember was fighting that freak Madara before I lost consciousness, and a fainted ninja is ALWAYS a dead ninja, especially in a high stakes fight like that".

" **I'm as lost as you. The mad stunt you pulled with taking in the other bijuu's chakra knocked me out and that's the last thing I remember."** The eyes replied with a powerful but tired voice." **But that's not the reason I pulled you in right now. It's obvious we're in a safe space wherever you are because you've been out for a long time and not attacked,so while your physical body gets in gear, I'll explain the biggest problems we have."**

"Out for a long time? How did that happen? I don't ever get knocked out for more than a few hours!" the man exclaimed in mild shock. He just couldn't stay down, that was his thing. For him to be knocked out for considerable time was a concerning thing. Whatever hit him, hit him very, very hard. His shut down body was only the second proof of that.

" **3 days. You've been out for a complete 3 days, give or take a few hours."**

"WHAT?!" THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE" he cried out. It was impossible according to him. He had bounced back from life threatening injuries in hours. Obviously not back into perfect health, but enough to at least wake up and stay conscious. Being out for 3 days was tantamount to him growing a second head for him. An idea simply inconceivable.

" **I told you, I had to explain things. Important things. You weren't out for 3 days because of whatever hit you. You recovered from that within the day. A bit longer than your previous miraculous recoveries, but still not bad. The reason you'd been out for 3 whole days was because of me. Well, partly because you did cause the problem in the first place"** the presence explained to him. An audible sigh followed the explanation and the presence moved forward, into the dim light and into view of the blond for the first time since the conversation began.

An enormous fox with black fur and 10 lazily swinging tails behind him walked forward and lied down next to the gate facing his human container. The man in question could only look back in shock and terrified wide eyes as he tried to make sense of what was in front of him.

"Y-You have 10 tails" he said dumbly.

" **Why yes I do. Thank you for noticing"** the beast replied sarcastically.

"1..2..3..4...10... yeah there's 10 alright but... How? That shouldn't be possible! You're known as the Kyuubi! The Nine-tails! It's your title for a reason!. You can't just go around growing extra tails. What the hell!" he screamed back in frustration and utter confusion.

" **Just sit down, shut up and listen. This is part of the reason why I brought you here to discuss things."** the black furred beast replied and the man shut up and sat down next to the cage door, looking as confused as ever.

" **When the other captured Bijuu gave you their chakra to help you fight Madara, their intentions had been to just give us a boost in power and push us over the edge to finally match the overpowered hack eye wielding nut. What they didn't take into account was the reaction that the chakra had upon coming into contact with me. All the chakra had initially just been stored inside you, but upon sensing my presence, they were drawn to and absorbed by me. The influx of chakra literally knocked me out."** the beast took a pause and looked at his container who was intently listening to him with an understanding expression etched upon his face.

" **When I woke up next you were fighting Madara and my fur went from orange to black, and I had an extra tail. In essence, instead of being a divided part of the juubi, I am now a part-juubi myself. Not as powerful as him but leagues above the other Bijuu, including my old self. The reason why you were knocked out far longer was this exact change. Your Chakra coils were meant to handle the Kyuubi's power, not Juubi's. I had to extend them to their limits, wait until your body healed up and then extend them again and again until your body could handle the strain of channeling my chakra again, at which point your consciousness finally returned and your body healed enough to function. You still need to replenish your body with food and water but that can wait now."**

The blond looked at the massive beast and could already feel the difference between his last meeting with the being and now. It was staggering how much difference an extra tail could make and how strong the gigantic fox had been before, and how stronger it had grown since. The amount of power radiating from him was chaotic and uncontrolled, much like the beast was looking.

"Wait does this mean my chakra reserves have grown again?!" the man asked suddenly.

The beast nodded at him and grinned at his deflated reaction. He knew he'd have to master all his chakra control back again and would need to train a lot more just to get back to where he was. The extra chakra was good but he barely had need for any more chakra than he had, which was much more than Kage-level reserves. The extra Chakra would only massively fuck up his control as the sudden surge in reserves would not allow for much control.

" **You'll have to start with tree walking again brat."** The beast said and almost laughed at his containers murderous glare.

"Wait. You said that's part of the reason why you brought me here. What's the other thing?" the man asked.

The beast in question actually looked like he was debating whether he should talk or not before donning a fuck-it expression and continued " **Well brat, the next bit is actually even more crazier than me growing an extra tail from my ass so I just want to confirm it before telling you."**

The man was once again, beyond confused as to what could be stranger than that but decided to humour the beast." And what exactly do you need to confirm this piece of news?"

" **Simple. Just try to get back to the battlefield for the 4** **th** **war"** the 10 tails replied with a poorly hidden grin. He felt his consciousness pulling him back and a gentle wave of the paw of the beast sent him back to his significantly less aching body.

Naruto Uzumaki woke up in his body and groaned once more as the pain made itself known. Sighing , Naruto knew he had to go back one way or another. If Madara had taken him out it was a good bet the war was either almost or completely over. All his friends were killed. The entirety of the rookie Gen, his teachers and even the people he met during the war, almost every single of them was killed. The Edo Tensei resurrections were much too powerful and when Madara finally showed up, he went on a mad butchering spree with his beyond overpowered techniques. The war was already lost long before Naruto went ahead to face Madara but no one was ready to give up and wanted to fight till their last breaths. He was sure even if he showed up now he would be on the side of an alliance the size of a minor village or less.

Focusing once again on the present and his current situation he decided to figure out where he was. He was in a deeply forested area with no clear signs of civilization. He was sure he was in a faraway place as he had not been discovered by anyone in 3 days. He wondered why no animals had tried to eat him." **Some tried but a little Killing Intent from my part sent them scurrying away faster than you would think possible. It was the only highlight of the last few days"** came the laughing voice of the 10 tails within him eliciting a sweat drop from the blond.

Feeling a little bit of pain in his body he decided to ignore it and try to find the nearest human to know where he ended up. Deciding to walk a little to get his muscles to stop screaming bloody murder at every step he began walking in a random direction to find anything but trees.

After a few minutes of walking he came across a tree larger than any of the surrounding trees and going to through the canopy. Wanting to get a bird's eye view to know where he would go he ran up to the tree to climb it...And promptly blasted himself back on the second step upwards and was sent flying back into another tree, the large having a big chunk blown off and creaking slowly before falling.

"SON OF A BITCH THAT HURT" he screamed and nursed his head before remembering about his chakra control situation. Grumbling something about tails and asses he decided that it would be crucial to get his control to somewhat useable levels before trying to locate the battlefield. He won't do any good fighting if he couldn't even control his chakra. Looking at all the trees around him he almost felt sorry for them before rushing to another smaller one and trying to run up.

"SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT WHOAAAAA" thump "Ow".

The forest had lost a good many trees to odd shaped holes and marks that day, and a certain blond had discovered he could scream for much longer than he thought possible.

After losing 2-3 hours at the training exercise that was the most basic ninja skill, he could finally walk up a tree with active concentration. It was far from perfect but it was all he could do. He tried to use shadow clones but ended up making 200 instead of 20 intended and had instead sent off most of them to find marks of civilization.

The clones had all popped after various discoveries such as abandoned bandit camps and some lone huts around the forest but one of them had spotted a tiny village about an hour or two away from him. Dispelling some more clones and leaving about 75 clones to continue practicing tree walking, he first went to a nearby lake to create some clones ( just 60 instead of the intended 8) he set them to water walking. The clones looked at him pleadingly but to no avail as they all went ahead to drown or hobble into the water with varying degrees of success.

Deciding to start running if he wanted to get to the town before sundown, he leapt off and began his short run. Throughout his way he couldn't stop feeling odd. He felt very wrong for some reason. It was like the world itself felt foreign to him. Everything around him was normal but felt _off_ to him. He was wary the entire time and was paranoid during the entire trip.

Finally reaching the small town, it was a good bit past noon and the town was almost empty. It was not that large either, probably about 2-3 clan compounds put together in area. He quickly looked around and decided to eat first to replenish his broken body. He had no hurry to go die against Madara. It was cynically funny what losing hope could do to a person, but it was to be expected when you saw everyone you know being butchered without a second glance their way by the perpetrators. He entered a small shack-like place where he could smell food cooking and found himself in a small Restaurant that was empty save for a lone person behind the counter, cooking something.

When the person finally noticed Naruto entering he was surprised and quickly offered him a seat." Ah sorry I didn't see you there earlier. We don't normally get customers this time of the day." The man apologized.

"it's no problem mister. Just get me something to eat as soon as you can, I'm starving." Naruto said nonchalantly as he sat down and waited.

"Say mister" Naruto began," can you tell me where war is taking place?"

"War?" the man looked at Naruto strangely," There's no war going on. The last war that happened was the 3rd shinobi world war, which ended around 15 to 16 years ago" he said with a thoughtful expression trying to remember the exact number of years.

Naruto meanwhile was dumbstruck. His eyes as wide as could be and his mind coming to a screeching halt. It took all his years as a ninja to not scream loud enough to wake the dead. The Juubi within him sighed loudly. " **Yes. This was the second thing I thought was happening. I couldn't confirm it but I thought we were in the past."** Naruto still couldn't believe what was happening and was brought out of his stupor by a plate of food being kept in front of him, with the man being confused by his current state. He quietly ate his food with still wide eyes and a completely dumbstruck face, quietly paid and walked away in a daze.

It was only after he was a good distance in the forest near the village when the village was graced by the loudest and most disturbing scream – WWHHAAATTTTTT TTTHHEEEE **FFFUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK**

The whole village unanimously paused, processed, and then proceeded to agree to forever forget this specific experience.

The source of the village-wide trauma himself was wheezing from his battlecry when he was pulled into his subconscious for the second time.

" **Are you done giving everyone in a 10 mile radius mental as well as ear trauma?"** the newly ascended Bijuu asked.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WERE IN THE PAST WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, THIS IS BULLSHIT I DON'T BELIEVE YOU THIS IS AN ELABORATE PRANK-" the blond was still hysterical.

" **Brat. Shut up"**

"THAT MEANS THAT I'LL MEET MY DOUBLE AND WE'LL EXPLODE AND THE UNIVERSE WILL FUCK UP AND THEN IT WILL END AND I WON'T REMEMBER-"

" **Brat, SHUT UP"**

"AND THEN THE REAPER WILL COME FOR MY SOUL BUT MY SOUL WILL BE OUT OF HIS DOMAIN AND I'LL BE STUCK AS A FORMLESS BODILESS HORROR-"

" **CAN YOU SHUT THE FU- wait what? What the fuck brat"**

Wheeeeeeze

Naruto looked up at him with still wide eyes and a face about to start another hysterical rant before a strong pulse of chakra from Kurama knocked him on his ass and shut him up

" **Now listen up and listen good. I know this is weird but did you honestly think it impossible in the world where you can summon the fucking God of death to fit a cataclysm bigger than a mountain into a tattoo on a baby? Calm your ass down and take a moment to think it through. You lost. Everyone died. I'm starting to think that bright white light you got hit with wasn't Madara but something else that flung you back in time. It would explain why you had been out for much longer, and why the world seems foreign to you."** The former kyuubi explained with a leer.

He was right. He did lose. Everyone he knew had died and it was nothing short of divine intervention that he was getting a second chance to make things right.

But his friends... His teachers... Everyone he knew.. They were gone." **They aren't gone brat. You're back in time, they're here again. You have a chance to save them."**

"No." A barely audible whisper.

" **What?"**

"I said no. They aren't here. I failed my world. They're all dead. Everyone here is different. They aren't the ones I vowed to protect. I have already failed my promise to myself." He said with an almost crying tone.

" **Naruto. Listen. You want to sit down and mope and waste this second chance we've got, go ahead and do it, but before that just release me from this seal because I formed a partnership with a knucklehead that didn't give up, not to a loser."** The majestic beast declared harshly.

Naruto looked up to him with hopeless eyes and looked down again. He sighed. "I guess you're right."

" **Damn right I am"**

"So. What do we do? Do we dismantle akatsuki ourselves? I'm pretty sure I can pick apart most of them now." Naruto began with a little curiosity.

" **As fun as that would be, in your current state even a decent chuunin could take you down"** the Juubi deadpanned.

"What? Oh. Right." He dumbly replied. His chakra control was beyond abysmal. He couldn't form any of his jutsu and apart from his kyuubi-no Juubi chakra mode he had nothing.

" **If you're thinking you can still access my chakra mode then forget about it. You'll have to win it from me again, and this time it will be exponentially tougher"** The beast said all too happily.

"Why?! That's so unfair! I already beat you!" the blond cried out.

" **You beat the kyuubi brat. Do you see him anywhere?"** he replied with a menacing grin

"I hate you so much right now" it was the blond's turn to deadpan.

" **Anyway as it remains, I think our best course of action would be to get back the village and train there. You'll have to come up with an explanation as to why a grown man is completely off the records in konoha, but I'm sure you'll bullshit through that."**

"Are you sure we should go back right now? Shouldn't we you know.. Train a little so I'm back to competent levels at least?" the blond hesitantly asked. He wasn't really ready to see the faces of everyone he had so recently lost.

" **Well, I suppose we can train a little before heading back. If you're so bent on training, then let's start with the things you won't be able to do freely in the village, like Bijuu chakra training. There's a bunch of things I need to tell you. Being the 10 tails jinchuriki has its own perks.** " The beast said with a shit-eating grin, obviously proudful of his power.

"What kind of things?" The blond asked before excitedly shouting

"Do I get the Rinnegan?"

" **Uh no"**

"The truth seeking balls?"

" **No"**

"Absolute control over Yin-Yang release?"

" **No. Ugh just shut up. Let me speak. If you were the jinchuriki of the true 10 tails like the Sage was, you might've gotten all or most of that. But I'm not the true 10 tails. From what I can feel with the changes in your body, you have affinity for the 5 basic natures, the Juubi chakra cloak which is leagues beyond the kyuubi chakra cloak, but also almost impossible to master, and a nearly superhuman base human body. There might be other things but I'm not sure about them so we'll have to figure them out as we go along"** The Juubi explained. It was an educated guess but he was at least sure about everything he had just said. The other speculations had to be tested.

Naruto could only look in wonder as he took in all the information. Sure 5 basic natures wasn't as good as a Rinnegan, but he knew that if he managed to master the basic natures it would open up a lot of possibilities in terms of being a ninjutsu specialist. Likewise the stronger body and chakra cloak would help massively in taking on other powerhouses like that freak Kirabi. Man he was strong but he was CRAZY.

"Well that isn't half bad. I guess I'll make do with what I've got" the Bijuu shot an irritated look at having his powers dismissed roughly." I guess it's time to get to training."

He opened his eyes in the opening where he was and immediately got to work in reaching for the demonic chakra in his seal. Accessing just a little bit to see what the chakra did he was suddenly floored with the amount of raw _power_ he felt coursing through him. _'What the hell is this?!'_

It took all the control he had of his previous demonic chakra to not pull in more than he did. Right now he only had a black aura around him, not even a tail, and yet he felt powerful enough to take on the world.

" **Careful brat. You're letting all this get to your head. You need to take this power in small increments to get your mind and body used to this"** The source of said power rang out in his head. The blond nodded absently and breathed out trying to get his monumental chakra under control. This was going to be a very very long training session

* * *

It had been almost a month since Naruto had been out in the wild training. He went to the nearby town every once in a while to get the bare minimum supplies and had set up a chakra suppression field where he was training to prevent detection. That was basic fuuinjutsu that Jiraiya had taught him with promise to advance further, that he never got to fulfill. He had gotten more or less the same chakra control he had before his temporal mishap and had mastered his wind chakra manipulation. He decided to work on his wind chakra first and then fire because it is opened up a lot of potential combination techniques. He could properly manifest about 2 tails of chakra and stay stable but he found the chakra cloak to be too unstable and wildly maddening. He almost went on a berserker rage the first time he pulled enough to manifest a tail and was only stopped when the Bijuu within him knocked him out from within, pulling him in the subconscious. He decided to not push more than 2 tails and use it as an absolute last resort.

He had wondered about sage mode and his summoning contract but had figured that his name wouldn't be in the summoning contract in this world, and he wasn't so sure about trying out sage mode alone with his vastly changed chakra reserves. Sage mode was about balance, and no doubt he would have to do it all over again.

He had got down some basic wind jutsu and had decided that for fire he would head back to konoha. His body, he found out had been inherently... Upgraded... Was the only word he could find suitable. Faster, stronger more resilient and the like. It had definitely made training more rewarding. His fighting style still left much to be desired with his only style being 'Rush them with clones' but he also put it for later.

Finishing his last set of exercises for the day he sighed and popped the rest of his clones who were working on wind manipulation. He packed everything he needed and sealed his stuff before torching the grounds to remove his presence from the area with a minor fire jutsu.

With a final look towards to the town that he had gotten to know was not that far from the land of fire borders, he ran towards his destination

The village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: Hey guys I'm back. I know the length of the chapters are a little short note but I'll be making longer chapters as we progress with the story. I'm really happy with the reaction I got to my first chapter people, thanks. Enjoy this chapter, and I'll post the next one soon.**

 **Chapter 2: Revelations**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto franchise or the rights to the characters.**

* * *

Naruto was jumping through the trees, going over his explanation to the hokage about who he was.

He would enter the village through one of the older Anbu entrances that Kakashi had shown him, where he would no doubt be prosecuted by the Anbu instead of the normal chuunin. He would use a codename that he was particularly giddy to use-Dragon.

Dragon was an Anbu legend. Active throughout the career of the 4th Hokage, he was the Anbu with the record for highest S-Rank missions in the entire village. He was said to have disappeared a while before the kyuubi attack, supposedly KIA.

The real kicker was that he knew who Dragon was. Dragon was a codename taken on by Minato Namikaze himself. Naruto found this in his journal given to him by the Sandaime after declaring his heritage. Minato had used the codename to take on high difficulty missions because he refused to be chained to a desk as a Hokage. He used a shadow clone to continue his Hokage duties. His shadow clones were obviously known to be clones, but most assumed he was just training or studying fuuinjutsu so didn't bother much with it. In the brief time that Dragon was active, he had garnered a legendary status and was looked up to by basically the entirety of the Black Ops.

After possibly confusing the Anbu and being taken to the Hokage (best case scenario) or the Anbu HQ(worst case scenario) he'd use the Anbu code to prove his Anbu status (God bless Kakashi for teaching him all about the Anbu when Naruto had told him he was planning to join them). After taking the Anbu off his back he'd pose as a returning Anbu and eventually tell the truth to the Sandaime. He did know some stuff about Sandaime to at least prove to him that he was from the future, and the man was called the professor for a reason, surely he'd react with more grace than Naruto did.

He then thought about the problem with his whisker marks, and the name he'd choose as he couldn't exactly go around calling himself Naruto. He briefly thought about taking on the Namikaze name as he had never got the chance to take his old man's name, but quickly buried that thought as it would gather a lot of unwanted attention. He knew that the Naruto of this time was already born and would be around 5-6 years old. He had decided to take the Uzumaki name and claim that Naruto had also inherited the whiskers as part of the Uzumaki clan. It's far from believable but he'd already planned to talk to the Hokage as soon as he could so he was willing to work out the minor details with him.

He looked over his attire once more, he was wearing simple black t-shirt and blue pants with his blue sandals. His orange Jacket had been way too tattered to be still wearable. He was wearing his forehead protector so he could at least prove he was from konoha.

Approaching the village he could sense many ninja moving all around him. He quickly approached a very ordinary looking spot on the wall encircling the village and felt around for a little while. Finally finding what he was looking for, he placed his hand on the wall where he felt an oddity and pulsed his chakra in a very particular pattern.

Within seconds two Anbu appeared near him and looked him over. One was wearing a eagle mask and the other was wearing a tiger mask. It was Eagle who spoke first.

"identify yourself and present your Anbu identification as well as mask."

Naruto looked at him with a calm expression betraying nothing." I've come back from a very long undercover mission, S-ranked and thus lost almost everything I had on me. My safe house was raided and my cover blown so I had to escape. I can't prove who I am but I can prove I'm Anbu. My Code was Dragon, and my Anbu identification number was 3499."

Both Anbu showed no outward movement but inwardly they were on edge. Dragon was indeed a legend but he had been assumed dead. For this person to suddenly show up and take his name with no prior identification seemed very suspicious.

"If you could take me to Hokage-sama I'm sure he could verify my existence as well identity." Naruto said sensing where their thoughts would trail.

Tiger spoke this time," Very well. You may accompany us to Hokage-sama. But due to the suspicion we would like you to wear chakra suppressing handcuffs."

Naruto sighed, he knew he would have to comply with their requests and he brought his hands to them and held them out. Eagle took out a set of normal-looking handcuffs with many lines inscribed all around it. As soon as he cuffed Naruto, Naruto could feel his chakra seem inaccessible. He could feel it there but he just couldn't reach out to it.

After making sure their escort was as helpless as they could have him, the Anbu grabbed him and used shunshin to appear at the Hokage tower. Naruto recognized the assistant outside and quickly averted his gaze. He started to prepare for his meeting with the Sandaime, and preparing himself to see the face of the grandfather figure he'd seen die so many years ago.

When the door opened after a quick 'come in' from the inside, which sounded much different that Naruto expected, he came to face a sight which made him almost get a heart attack.

Inside the office, sat a 5 year old Naruto on the desk trying to unsuccessfully twirl a blunt 3-pronged kunai.

He sat in front of the Hokage himself.

Minato Namikaze, The yellow flash and the man who had died sealing the kyuubi inside his own son, was sitting in the office in his Jounin uniform with his Hokage jacket on his chair with an unreadable expression, assessing 'Dragon' with his sharp eyes.

Eagle and Tiger bowed and Eagle began,"Hokage-sama, we found this man on the Anbu entrance 3 on the East side of the village. He claims to be Dragon and has provided his Anbu ID but the man himself as no proof of his being in Anbu."

Minato Namikaze, quickly knowing that something was off as he himself was Dragon looked over the person in front of him. Tall and well built with blonde spiky hair and blue eyes and whisker marks, he almost looked like Naruto. He knew something was at play and decided to see where he was going with this.

"Thank you for bringing him here Eagle, Tiger. You're both dismissed for now." Minato said with a bored expression.

The Anbu bowed once again and quickly left.

"Anbu. Give us privacy. Take Naruto as well" the Hokage ordered.

4 Anbu materialised and one of them, Dog moved towards Naruto and picked him up

"Aww dad is this meeting really important now? I wanted to do the cool twisty thing you do with your kunai" Naruto whined

"Go with the nice Anbu now Naruto, he knows how to do the twirl as well" Minato smiled at his son."You do? Can you teach me?" Naruto asked the Anbu holding him excitedly.

"Yes Naruto. Now let's go." The Anbu told him and proceed to disappear along with his team.

"Now then. Do you mind telling me why you're going around impersonating one of my ninja?" asked Minato curiously.

Dragon was still stuck speechless and was completely blank. He was supposed to masterfully bullshit through this and reveal the truth in his own time. Instead he just blurted out 'Tou-chan' and his eyes almost watered.

Minato could only widen his eyes a moment before he disappeared and slammed Dragon into a wall with a 3-pronged kunai to his neck. "What kind of underhanded spy not only impersonates a ninja but tries to impersonate a father's son. That too right in front of him." He glared murderously at the shocked man in front of him.

Dragon couldn't even see him move before he felt the wind knocked out of him and pressed against the wall with a kunai to his throat. _'Fast!'_

"Listen! I'm not impersonating anyone! I swear just give me a moment to explain things!" Dragon said desperately. He had no doubts that the man in front of him could easily kill him at a moment's notice.

"You better have a damn good explanation for this." Minato said as he loosened his grip on the kunai but still held it to his throat.

"I'm just reaching down for my shirt and will need to pull it up" Dragon said cautiously and began to slowly move his hand towards his shirt and slowly pick it up, exposing his midriff.

"I need to channel a bit of chakra, or if you want you can channel a bit of chakra onto my stomach. There's a seal on it which might prove something's to you."

Minato stepped back and made a clone who channelled a bit of chakra to make a very complex looking seal appear on his stomach. Minato's eyes considerably widened when he saw and recognized the seal. Looking back at the man in front of him he made a single handseal and the room glowed with a little yellow haze before returning back to normal.

"You've got my attention." Minato said motioning for him to sit and went back to his chair.

* * *

Naruto was sitting in a training field with dog and was trying to twirl the kunai in his hand, and failing. His face was burrowed with concentration and Dog was trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Kakashi-san who was that man that dad just met?" asked Naruto looking up at Dog.

"Now now Naruto. What did I tell you about calling me by name when I'm on duty?" Kakashi looked at him through the mask with an amused expression.

"To do it?" Naruto asked with a sheepish grin

"No Naruto. Don't do it" he said while ruffling his hair." And about the man, no I don't know who he is, why do you ask?"

Kakashi knew why he had asked. It was bugging him constantly. He looked exactly like Naruto did, given 10-12 years. He had the whisker marks for God's sake. He also knew that the codename Dragon was actually Minato-sensei as he had accompanied him on a few missions. With how confidently he had called himself Dragon, he was sure that he knew too. Something was up and Kakashi would get the full story from either sensei or the man himself.

"Well he sort of looked like dad didn't he? Do you think he's his brother or something? Do you think I have an uncle? Do you think he'll teach me cool jutsu?" Naruto began and got notably excited with his own questions.

Kakashi smiled at him through his two masks and was about to tell Naruto something when Naruto suddenly got a glazed look in his eye and slumped forward. Eyes widening in alarm he immediately checked his body and found that he was unconscious. He quickly picked him up and ran towards the Hokage tower once again.

Up on the roofs he finally saw the tower and was about to jump in when he saw the yellow haze of the privacy seals activate. Cursing his luck and circumventing to get through the door instead of the window, he reached the door and knocked in a particular pattern.

Minato had just sit and was about to listen to the man when he heard the knocking. He knew it was Kakashi and had let him enter and soon saw an unconscious Naruto in his arms.

"Kakashi! What happened?!" he asked with a worried look."I don't know sensei, he was sitting and talking to me when suddenly he just fell unconscious. I looked him over and there's no external stimuli causing it. It seems to be internal."

"Uh excuse me Hokage-sama, Anbu-san. I know what happened to Naruto." Dragon said calmly." He was most likely pulled into his subconscious by the Kyuubi. It happens a lot when the Bijuu want to talk to their hosts about something important, has this never happened before?"

Minato and Kakashi looked at each other and then Minato began," The kyuubi has been completely unresponsive to our attempts at communicating with him. I know he's a bit prideful but to completely shut itself off from his host is unheard of. We had tried to have Naruto go into his mindscape a few times but he was pushed out as soon as he got in."

"I believe I can set your kyuubi straight Hokage-sama." Dragon said with a manic glint in his eyes." Do you guys wanna see the great Kyuubi shit his pants?"

Minato and Kakashi both looked at the man as if he was crazy." What are you talking about Dragon?"Kakashi asked, still calling him Dragon only because he had no other name to refer to him as.

"You'll see"

"I know we most definitely will see but we need to know what or how. I'm not just letting you converse with my son's Bijuu right off the bat. You're still very suspicious and you've yet to explain anything about your actions _Dragon._ " Minato said with authority.

"I can explain everything to you, with a little proof if we go into your son's mindscape but just to give you both a little benefit of the doubt," he held out his hand created a Rasengan. It was much larger than a normal Rasengan and much more denser, but it got the point across when both men looked at him with shocked expressions. There were only 3 people who knew the Rasengan. Minato, Kakashi and Jiraiya. If this man knew the Rasengan then there was some more questions raised.

Sighing they both relented and agreed to the man's demand, their curiosity needing to be sated." So how exactly are we gonna enter Naruto's mindscape? That is high level mind-walking that only Yamanaka can do." Kakashi asked, not knowing about the Reaper Death seal on Naruto, which Minato had suspected would make him a jinchuriki. It wasn't just a Jinchuriki, it was the seal that he himself had made a few years ago and was used by the Sandaime to seal the kyuubi into Naruto. It was impossible to recreate the seal and it was impossible for anyone else to make it, in such a short time. Not to mention the man in front of them was much older than Naruto, meaning he had gotten this seal when he was a baby, when this seal hadn't been _created._ There was a lot of questions Minato had, but Naruto's well-being was important.

Smiling, Dragon held up his handcuffed arms. Kakashi sighed and pressed the Anbu glove to it, making it glow and open. Removing the handcuffs, Dragon rubbed his hands and then focused.

" **Did you Bullshit through your meeting with the Sandaime?"** The Juubi asked, not knowing anything since being cut off from Naruto's chakra.' _No I've got something much better. Play along, we've got a kyuubi to intimidate.'_.

He motioned for the two men in front of him to hold on to his hand, while with the other he touched Naruto's forehead. All 3 felt a tug at their consciousness and opening their eyes, found themselves in a sewer.

"Naruto! Are you alright?" Minato shouted and ran towards Naruto who was currently looking at the kyuubi very shakily. He had known about the beast being sealed inside of him, everyone did, he was the village hero, but coming face to face with it was another matter. He was at a loss for words and scared beyond belief.

The stranger scene was that the kyuubi himself didn't look menacing or threatening but scared. Minato looked in the eyes of the beast that had taken his wife from him and could only sense fear. This was ridiculous for Minato.

Until he actually spread his senses out and felt why. The massive chakra he was feeling, no doubt from the kyuubi in front of him, wasn't the only massive chakra here. Something far more powerful was here, and that was behind him.

Turning to look behind him he saw Dragon with a manic half-smile, standing there with Kakashi... In front of another large metallic cage with a 'Seal' in front of it.

He had expected him to be a jinchuriki, but why did it feel different from the presence in front of him? If what he said was to be taken at face value, then for some reason he was an alternate version of his son. As messed up as that sounds, being the foremost authority in space-time jutsu he didn't put it as completely impossible that an alternate version of someone might pop up.

He looked at kyuubi and then picked up Naruto and retreated to them." Alright Dragon. I guess it's time for answers."

"Aren't you going to peek at the big bad monster behind me?" Dragon asked, still not taking his eyes off the kyuubi in front of him.

" **Minato..."** A low voice growled from behind the group. Minato and Kakashi finally turned around to face a set of crimson eyes and a large fanged mouth." **What a pleasant surprise.I thought I'd seen enough of you for one century but clearly the universe hates my peace."** The presence annoyingly said. It slowly walked forward for the group, and the Kyuubi to see , and was greeted by shocked and terrified faces. Kakashi, who had no idea that Dragon would be a jinchuriki was floored at the sight of a massive Dark orange, to almost black 10-Tailed fox suddenly coming into view. Minato who had expected another Kyuubi, was shocked at a Juubi showing up, and Kyuubi was wary of the two foreign presences in front of him, clearly at the top of the food chain here.

After the initial shock subsided, Dragon walked forward to the Kyuubi jail and looked up at him.

" **... How?"**

"How what?"

" **How... Is there another 10 tails. You're not the original, not the one we were made from, yet your power reminding me of all my brethren. I can sense my own power in there, but I can also feel the rest of the Bijuu. What did you do, human?"**

Dragon laughed." You're right. Furball back there isn't the True Juubi. Just like how I'm not a true Juubi container. But you're also right that he houses the power of the rest of Bijuu inside him. Think of him as a juiced up you who actually got a shot at ascending to more power."

"Now I've heard that you've been shut off in here. Frankly? I don't give a damn. You can shut yourself in here, holed up without any knowledge of the outside world and live like a prisoner." He grinned." Or, you can help little blondie over there, and I'll make sure you have enough freedom to see what he sees and feel what he feels during a battle."

Kakashi looked at him suspiciously, at the thought of him messing with the seal but a quick look at Minato calmed him. Minato was looking at Dragon with impassively, but years working with the teleporting man he could accurately tell what he was feeling, hope.

If the Kyuubi actually helped Naruto it would offer a great boost in his skills. Not that he didn't feel that Naruto couldn't become a great shinobi without depending on the kyuubi, but he knew that in the ninja world, every small advantage counts.

The Kyuubi looked at the Juubi, and back at his container." **I have no respect for a weak container."** He leered at the small blonde boy." **If the child earns my respect,I have no problem accepting your little offer. But until he does I'll not assist him in the slightest."** He finished with a tone that left no arguments.

Dragon glanced at the Hokage and seeing him nod went back to kyuubi." Alright I'll accept your terms. I'll go mess with the seal a little later so that you get a little more leeway but I expect you back blondie up when he calls for it." He smirked." Also, when the time comes for him to master your chakra, I'll be the one who trains him." Everyone else bar the beasts were confused at the declaration but the kyuubi could only gain a horrified look. If the Juubi container would help the kid there would be no contest." No, I'm not going to help during the fight, that'll be unfair. He'll have to win your chakra from you fair and square, but I _will_ be training him for that specific purpose." Dragon finished as he began walking away.

"Alright everyone gather around and listen. Kakashi, Hokage-sama, I'll explain everything to you. Naruto, I didn't want you to know all this so soon, but now that the kyuubi has seen Juubi all that has gone to shit. " Dragon sighed.

"My name, is Uzumaki Naruto, and I've come from a future timeline that's much different that yours." He said with a flat tone.

Kakashi looked at him with an unreadable annoyance. Minato looked at him with excited wide eyes. And Naruto looked at him with a very confused look.

"What" the three of them said in unison.

"I'll explain this only once, and I need some answers myself so please," Dragon materialised 4 chairs in the mindscape," Get comfortable. This is going to be long."

X-BREAK-X

It had taken over 3 hours for the group to finish familiarizing themselves with the situation and they were still reeling from the information that was exchanged. It all like an elaborate prank to the Hokage but the existence of a part-Juubi was no joking matter. Kakashi was also doubtful but after Dragon had revealed some rather private information about him he was convinced that either he did know him, or he was part of a spy group much more proficient than any in the Elemental Nations. He was hoping it was the former. Naruto was beyond happy to see that he grew up to be an awesome ninja and the hero of his village. He was also very sad after hearing that his counterpart grew up without any parents or friends, but quickly got over it when explained that he had many great friends after he grew up.

Dragon himself was in a state of shock over how different things had turned out in this world. When the Sandaime had used the Reaper Death Seal instead of Yondaime, things had changed. The most notable example being that Minato Namikaze was still alive. The Uchiha clan was not that hated because their leader Fugaku Uchiha was good friends with Minato. He was sure that there were much more different things but he didn't know the right questions to ask to determine the differences.

"So" Minato began as he took his seat back and unsealed the room." What do you plan on doing now?"

"Well I was hoping you could help me with that actually. I have nowhere to go and no identity to live off of. I'm here to prevent what happened in my timeline, but there's a lot of time for that ." Dragon said with a smile."

"Well first I think we should get you an identity. You obviously can't go with Naruto since that'll be strange. Did you have any codenames in your timeline?" Kakashi asked.

"No, not really. I thought of using my Namikaze title after the war was over but never got the chance to do so." Dragon narrowed his eyes." Wait a minute, I can use the Namikaze name here can't I? You could introduce me as your long lost clan member who was on a long term mission that went south. My records were erased and my identity hidden. I escaped after a long time and now I'm back to join the village again." Dragon finished with an excited grin. It would be really nice to finally be able to use his father's legacy.

Minato thought about this plan of his and could find no obvious holes so decided to humour him," Well we have a backstory and clan but still no name for you."

"Oh. Yeah" Dragon rubbed his head sheepishly." Got excited."

"Well since you're using my Anbu persona, why not use it to its fullest? I planned to name Dragon as Kira when I retired his identity. You could use that." Minato explained.

"Namikaze Kira." Kakashi said with an amused voice."Iwa will have a heart attack".

Dragon laughed." Well it's settled then.". He turned and took a knee towards Minato." Namikaze Kira, at your service Hokage-sama."

Minato looked at the newly ordained Namikaze Kira in front of him, and smiled, proud of his (in a very very weird sense) son.

"Wait! Does this mean that Dragon-san will live with us?" Naruto interjected happily, reminding his presence to everyone in the room.

"Well,I see no problems with that, do you Kira?" the Hokage asked Kira with a smile.

Kira rubbed his head again and laughed," when you put it like that,I guess I could. I honestly didn't expect to live in the Hokage's house after coming here in shackles this morning."

Naruto jumped up excitedly, and Minato and Kakashi smiled. Kira himself was amused at the antics before he asked again." So what now?"

Minato thought about it for a moment and began," Well I could have Kakashi have a mock fight with you to test your skills and then with my recommendation behind you, we could set you up at Jounin rank. Then you could freely use the village and it's resources to train and do missions until things begin picking up."

"That sounds doable. Though do we really have to have a fight? I mean, I'm sure you both know I'm Jounin rank at least." Kira said.

"That may be, but we still don't know anything about your skills as a whole and a Hokage can't have a ninja whose skills he doesn't know in the slightest." Minato said with a smile.

Kira groaned but gave in to his terms." Alright it's settled then. I'll begin the paperwork for your official reinstation. Kakashi will have a short spar with you tomorrow to gauge your skills and then you'll be reinstated in front of the council." Minato finished with a sigh." Not even half the day has passed and I'm already entering my future-son in my village ranks with forged papers. Kami save my soul" he sulked with a comically crying face.

Kakashi eye smiled at Kira," Training Ground 7. 6AM." And put on his mask and returned to his guard position.

"Sure. Definitely going to reach there at 6 sharp." Kira said with a knowing grin.' **I always hated his tardiness but at least he's consistent with it.** The Juubi added.

Naruto watched this with excitement and asked his father," Dad can I go watch Kira-san fight? I'm sure he has a lot of awesome techniques if he's really me from the future!" Minato smiled at him," Of course, You can accompany me. I will be overseeing the match myself anyway."

"Overseeing? The Hokage himself will be judging my skills? I'm honoured" Kira said with mock reverence." Can't blame me for being curious about an alternate universe's powerhouse can you?" replied Minato with an equal level of mockery.

They smiled at each other and Minato finally said," Alright you can go no.I still need to do the paperwork." Kira looked at him and nodded before grinning again." You know. I could tell you the secret for paperwor-"

In a sudden burst of speed Minato was on him with a disturbing glowing eyes and a horrid expression." **Speak now or forever be silenced mortal** " he growled at him.

"uh..I was going to say use shadow clones to help with them but what the fuck man" Kira answered with a very confused face.

Minato quickly returned to normal," Oh yeah I do that already. You think I'm the original? Pfft he's going to get a heart attack when I pop. Hope he's in the middle of something really delicate and it fucks him over." He yawned and returned to his seat. "Come to me when you got something better kid. Now get out of here."

Kira bowed once and jumped out the window with only one destination in mind. The one place where he could calm himself after all he'd been through. The one place where he gained absolute solace and peace.

Ichiraku's.

Meanwhile Naruto was just sitting there and staring dumbfounded at the scene that played out in front of him." Why is everyone so scared of a bunch of papers?!"

* * *

After a very hearty meal at Ichiraku's and seeing Teuchi after a long time Kira decided to finally outfit himself with something a little more Shinobi worthy. He only knew one shop from his old timeline where he could get the best Weapons and armour, the Higurashi weapon's shop.

He headed there with a long run around Konoha, taking in the sights of his village as he remembered it, not the rebuilt version after Pein remodeled it to a hole in the ground.' **Quite the art piece in my opinion.'** Juubi snickered in his mind. ' _Guy did what you couldn't do, jealous furball?'_ Kira replied with a snicker of his own. Juubi growled at him before returning to own thing. Kira laughed and continued his jog to the shop.

Once in, he quickly greeted the owner and saw a huge burly man up front. He was Tenten's father from what Kira knew. He'd never known his name but he knew that he was the best blacksmith in all of Konoha.

Remembering about what all money he had left over on him he quickly picked out the basics that he absolutely needed at the time, which were basically the shinobi counterpart of his current attire.

He picked out navy blue pants with lots of pouches,a black t-shirt, mesh under-armour and some supplies like low level exploding seals, kunai, shuriken and 2 extra large kunai remembering Kakashi's overzealous use of them for close combat situations. He planned to incorporate a vest with his outfit but decided to only do it with the Jounin vest he would no doubt receive by tomorrow.

Thanking the man for his services he exited the shop with plans to retire for the day himself. He'd been out in the wild for a long time and had travelled quite a lot that day itself, and he had the spar first thing in the morning tomorrow.

Reaching the Hokage's residence, he couldn't help but be awed at the size and grandeur of it. For a man like him who only owned a basic apartment with the bare minimum, this was nothing short of heavenly.

He sighed heavily and then thought about it hard. In his excitement back then with Naruto and his father he'd agreed to stay with them but he realized he'd be forcing himself into their family. No doubt that he would love for it to happen, for him to have a family again, but he simply couldn't just suddenly live with a family. He wanted to bond with them first. To get used to the idea of them being a family before he moved in.

Shoving those thoughts aside for tomorrow he walked in with the key Minato had given him during their conversation and walked in. He scoped out one of the unused guest rooms and quickly fell asleep, greatly having missed the comfort of a bed and a house for a very long time.

Training ground 7,8Am

Kakashi landed on the training ground with his trademark eye smile."Yo".

He looked to only see a very pissed off Minato-sensei and a very irritated Naruto." I thought you wouldn't be late for this Kakashi, this was supposed to be important" Minato said while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Where's Kira?" Kakashi answered, ignoring Minato's question and dodging a kunai the man threw at him for the aforementioned action.

"Boss knew you'd be late so he sent me here to notify him when you show up." A shadow clone of Kira spoke from his position lying down on a tree branch above him. He gave a lazy wave before popping.

A few minutes later Kira himself showed up."Yo. Sorry I'm late, an old lady needed help crossing the street and I didn't care about it and was sleeping." He said while ignoring the rapidly growing killing Intent focused on him by the Hokage.

"I'll make sure you both get assigned 5 D-ranks for wasting my time" Minato casually said and enjoyed the sheer look of horror on their faces. Ah how the tables have turned.

"Enough talking everyone I've been waiting for this forever! Can we please get to the exciting part now?" Naruto screamed at everyone present.

"Kid's right you know? We do have a show to put on. Let's try to match his excitement" Kira said while focusing his chakra around him and causing the wind to pick up." Shall we?"

Kakashi smiled at him and disappeared, appearing right in front of him with his kunai pressing against the kunai Kira had brought out instantly," We shall".


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: This chapter took a little longer to post because I'm on a family vacation and had no free time. This is also my first attempt at a fight scene so please, criticism is appreciated. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.**

 **Chapter 3: Doing it all over again**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Kira clashed with Kakashi with his kunai matching him blow for blow. Kakashi was on the offensive and making wide slashing attacks with the occasional thrust when he saw the opening.

Telegraphing one attack in a grand manner, only for it to be a feint, Kakashi landed a solid kick on Kira and sent him reeling back. Sheathing his kunai Kakashi charged towards him. Kira saw him coming and made two shadow clones with the seal to flank him.

Kakashi met the three blondes in battle and quickly dispatched the clones with Jabs to the throat and face. The real Kira was having a hard time matching the Cyclops in a pure taijutsu battle so he made another clone to rush him.

Kakashi saw the clone coming and sidestepped and tripped him before realising the clone didn't burst in smoke. Sensing something was wrong he immediately jumped away before the clone exploded with a great deal of force behind it. Kakashi deadpanned at the blonde, already hating the idea of fighting someone with exploding clones

Minato was on the sidelines observing the match with a critical eye. He sighed and remembered his conversation with Kakashi the previous day.

 _Flashback:_

 _After Naruto and Kira both had left the office, Kakashi landed again. "What do you think Kakashi?"_

" _He seems to have proven his identity and his story might check out, but we still don't know his motives. We know he might be from a different universe, but we still don't know what his personal agenda is."_

 _Minato frowned. "You're right. He's a loose cannon right now, and what more he's a jinchuriki of the highest caliber ever seen since the Sage. We can't take this lightly. The reason I chose you to test his skills in the spar is because I want you to push him to the farthest you can, and not get hurt yourself. Don't do anything permanent, but make him draw out as much of his skills as you can."_

 _Kakashi nodded and Minato continued," I'll be putting you off the active Anbu list for now, you're to resume your Jounin duties with an extra A-Rank mission starting tomorrow. You are to keep a close, watchful eye on one Namikaze Kira, determine his motives and if he's fit to be a part of this village. You are to be his Jounin mentor and partner with him on the first few missions I send him on." Minato finished with a stern look. Kakashi bowed to him and looked down, before asking,_

" _Do you think we can trust him?"_

" _That remains to be seen, but for the moment I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. That doesn't mean that this mission is in any way less severe in nature. You are to carry out your mission with utmost attention to detail. This mission is very sensitive in nature and I expect you to bring me results." Minato looked at Kakashi with a gaze that reminded the Cyclops of his wartime days. Anyone who ever says that Minato was the most friendly person ever had clearly never been in a mission under him. He was a slave driver. Period._

 _Kakashi nodded, "I will carry out your orders to the letter the Hokage-sama. I'll bring you weekly reports until you deem fit." Minato nodded and returned to his paperwork and Kakashi returned to his guard position._

 _End flashback_

Kakashi created two clones with himself and charged with his makeshift team towards the blonde. The blonde in question made 11 clones and charged, prepared to overwhelm the silver haired ninja. The teams clashed and only resulted in a blonde massacre before Kakashi realized that the original was missing from the fray.

Casting a wary eye towards the treeline Kakashi spotted shuriken flying towards him. Dodging them all he stood his ground and waited.

A short while later 5 clones rushed from the treeline towards him brandishing large kunai with a green haze emanating from it. Kakashi rapidly made hand seals while jumping back and shouted " **Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"**

A large fireball launched forward from the silver haired shinobi's mouth and quickly enveloped 3 of the advancing clones before heading on to the forest and exploding in a burst of flames.

The advancing clones reached Kakashi and tried to slash at him with their wind enhanced kunai while Kakashi did his best to backpedal and Dodge, as blocking a wind enhanced kunai was pointless.

During this time the original Kira had appeared and was trying to blindside Kakashi from his right side. Kakashi sensed him coming and with a leg sweep caused the clones to fall before finishing them off and jumping away, facing Kira, ready to counter whatever the blonde would do.

Kira looked at Kakashi and began his own set of seals, which Kakashi recognized as a wind style jutsu. " **Futon: Daitoppa!"** Kakashi recognized the jutsu but wasn't prepared for the sheer power that Kira put behind it and failed to dodge it completely, ending up with small cuts all over his arms and being thrown back.

' _Alright so he is a chakra powerhouse. He lacks the finesse and proper control to fully utilize his massive resources but the level of techniques he's using, he can simply get by with overcharging them. He knows his strengths and weaknesses and is using whatever knowledge he has to win. Not a bad head on his shoulders for tactical situations, but lacking majorly in taijutsu skills,'_ Kakashi summarised in his head. From what he had seen, Kira was easily Jounin material, but he wanted to see more of his skills and decided to continue the battle.

Kakashi recovered from being thrown back in midair and landed with his hands going into his kunai pouch. Quickly launching some kunai with deadly accuracy, he forced the blonde to move and not let him push the advantage. Convinced that the blonde was far enough he threw a smoke bomb and disappeared.

Kira saw this, cursed, and tried to sense Kakashi, without coming up with much. The man was a captain level Anbu, he would be downright impossible to track. He was about to rush into the forest when he felt something grab his legs, and pull him down to his neck in the ground. A moment later Kakashi emerged from the ground with a kunai to his throat. "You fought well." He eye smiled.

Kira looked at him and grinned, before saying, "Boom."

And following suit with an explosion that shocked Kakashi and threw him back.

The original Kira, meanwhile, threw several kunai and launched an empty palm strike behind them, which gave them a green haze and launched them much faster, straight into an airborne Kakashi.

Who immediately got replaced by a log which was splintered and shot through.

Kakashi landed a few feet away and simply asked, "When?"

Kira replied, "The smoke bomb" and grinned.

They nodded once and then charged at each other again, prepared to end this fight.

Kakashi knew he was at an elemental disadvantage but he pressed on with a lightning charged kunai and faced Kira with his wind enhanced kunai.

The pair clashed with sparks flying everywhere. Kakashi immediately realized that he won't stand much chances in front of the wind enhanced kunai and instead jabbed into the openings to shock Kira. Kira, who realized a little too late that the constant shocks were focused towards his arms, was surprised when his kunai wielding right arm suddenly turned limp for a moment, which was all Kakashi needed to nick him in the neck.

Kakashi jumped back and stated, "Alright that's enough. You have shown enough skill as a shinobi to pass as Jounin. Your fighting skills certainly match up, but your jutsu repertoire needs to expand. Your tactical thinking is noteworthy but you rely on clones a little too much. That could prove fatal in a fight with a sensor or someone who can figure out where the original you is. You also need a lot of experience in the other parts of being a Jounin, which fortunately I'll mentor you through."

Kira listened to Kakashi's verdict and smiled. He was happy that Kakashi himself would be mentoring him, and that he also got an explanation of what things he needs to focus on. When Kakashi was finished with his explanation, they both noticed Minato walking towards them, followed by a very giddy looking Naruto.

"That was awesome! I didn't know you could shoot fireballs Kakashi-san! And what was that technique you used? To just trap Kira inside the earth like that! It was so cool." Naruto began to compliment their battle before Minato ruffled his hair and told him to calm down. Naruto looked irritated at having his hair messed up but he agreed and stopped.

"Namikaze Kira. I have seen enough to determine that you are easily Jounin level in terms of fighting. As Kakashi said, you'll have to train in other aspects of being a Jounin, but you're off to a good start. I can back your reinstatement to Jounin to the council, added you complete a few missions in the field to get experience as well as proof of your skills." Minato explained with a passive face. Kira listened to it all before grinning, excited at the prospect of finally making Jounin.

' **The 18-year old war hero, who saved not only his village multiple times but also possibly the world, is still a genin'** The Juubi laughed in Kira's mind. He knew that the blonde was easily Jounin material but the humour was not lost on him when he had seen every one of his teammates outrank him in the field.

Kira ignored the Jab made by Juubi and waited for Kakashi and Minato to finish their talking. After a minute or so, Minato said, "You'll have to attend a council meeting today in 3 hours time. You'll be presenting yourself in front of all the members of the ninja council and the advisors. You should feel lucky about not having to deal with the civilian council in your first meeting." Minato snickered and then turned around, "Well I'm going back to the tower. Don't be late this time Kira." He glared at him before disappearing.

"Well Naruto, where do you wanna go? Should I escort you home?" Kakashi asked Naruto with a smile. "Can you please take me to meet Sasuke? We were supposed to meet today," Naruto replied happily.

Hearing Sasuke's name Kira couldn't help but stiffen. It was a painful memory, and a very painful realisation that he'd have to see him again. He might be misguided and used, but he was still his best friend.

Pushing aside his thoughts on the matter for a later time, Kira decided to leave the training field as well. He had just 3 hours to kill so he couldn't exactly start any training.

Everyone that he knew were just kids at the moment, and he didn't know many people that would be around his current age right now. He finally realised that he needed to gather some Intel about the differences between his old world and this new one. With that in mind he decided to leave for the library to scope out as much information as he could.

* * *

Shimura Danzo was sitting in his ROOT office with his bandaged and unreadable face. His absolute abhorrence of emotions still failing to make him not frown.

His spies had informed him of a blonde ninja that was a splitting image of the Hokage, was in a meeting with said Hokage. He didn't know about the contents of the meeting because of his privacy seals and the fact that they were unbreakable. His frown wasn't because there was an unknown ninja, that he can always get information on whenever he wanted. What confused him was that the person was using an old Anbu codename, which was an enigma for him.

Dragon, when active, was a mystery even for the most secretive man in Konoha. The war hawk absolutely refused to believe that there could exist any single ninja in the village that would have so much potential and be unnoticed by him. His only guesses as to who could be the Anbu in question was Minato, because he couldn't think of anyone else that could pull off that many S-Ranks without dying.

Danzo was almost convinced that it was Minato but then this nobody shows up at the village and claims the title for himself, with the Hokage's supposed backing. If that person operated within the village even for the slightest time possible, he would know. Yet that person drew blanks no matter where he looked or who he asked.

His own personal records, which had all the noteworthy shinobi from all over the world, also brought up nothing. If there was a shinobi in Konoha that was worth looking at twice, then Danzo would know him.

And yet, that person was an enigma which only grew more confusing with the appearance of this unknown factor.

Danzo glanced at the messenger entering his office before returning to work. "Danzo-Sama, Hokage-sama has called a meeting for Jounin reinstatement of one Namikaze Kira. The meeting will start in about 2 hours time." Danzo didn't acknowledge anything and the messenger bowed and left the room.

Seems like he would get answers sooner than expected.

* * *

Kira had spent almost all his time in the library looking for recent affairs information. His point of interest was from around the kyuubi attack, to the present.

He had found lots of interesting pieces of information that equally confused and amused him. The most important piece of information was the Uchiha civil war.

The civil war was orchestrated by the Uchiha elders. The civil war divided and killed most of the clan, and all that remained was a few families. They went from being the contender for the strongest clan in the village to one of the weaker ones just because of sheer lack of numbers.

The civil war took place because the Uchiha elders wanted to rule Konoha themselves. They had planned to murder their clan head, and then the Hokage to usurp control of the village. The cause of the civil war felt very suspicious to Kira, as he was sure they were not stupid enough to believe that they could do all that in a ninja village and have it not backfire. Whatever remained of the clan, only remained due to timely interference of Anbu, the Hokage and Itachi Uchiha.

Itachi Uchiha was still a missing-nin in this timeline, but the actual problem was that he was driven to defection by his clan itself. His best friend Shisui Uchiha, and his would-be girlfriend Izumi Uchiha had been the victims of the civil war. While Shisui had gone down fighting and his body never recovered, Izumi had been killed in her sleep. Itachi was enraged, and while still having a better control of his emotions and the mind to target the right people, he didn't take any prisoners that day.

Kira had guessed that he might be a part of Akatsuki again, but this time he may truly want to harm Konoha. He would have to discuss this with Minato.

Another interesting piece of information he gathered was that Jiraiya had been an active part of the village for the better part of his life, instead of roaming the elemental nations. He still maintained his spy network, but he was a lot more grounded to Konoha and had been an active member in the village.

The last major thing he noted was something he was particularly proud of. The Hyuuga incident was much better handled in this world. When the Raikage had denied all the accusations and demanded the body of Hiashi Hyuuga to compensate the killing of his ninja, Minato had stood stern and did not bend over to the Raikage's demands. His single letter of argument contained his signature tri-pronged kunai and the letter which stated that whenever the Raikage calmed down and decided to talk things out he would just need to throw the kunai to start the international delegation graced by Minato himself. While this was a rather bold move, the only message this was meant to send was to remind the Raikage who exactly he was trying to push around, and that Minato could teleport to Kumo whenever he wanted.

The end result was that the Raikage had backed down and there was only bad blood between the villages, no open hostility.

Kira was going over all this when an Anbu messenger landed near him and nodded.

Kira nodded back and they both used shunshin to reach the Hokage tower, where the meeting regarding him was about to start.

The council chambers were full of the all the needed people. The clan heads, the Anbu commander, the advisors and finally the Hokage himself were all seated in their respective places.

Kira entered the council room and gave a small bow, "Did the council request my presence?"

Minato addressed the entire council and said, "Yes Kira. We are gathered here today to discuss your reinstatement in the village ranks, and your rank at the time." He gave a pause. "Namikaze Kira, you were sent on a long undercover S-Rank mission which supposedly failed. You were deemed KIA around 5 years ago, after about 2 years of silence from your end. Is all that has been said true?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," spoke Kira.

"How did you escape, and how did it take you 4 years to get back to the village?" asked Homura, a member of the advisors.

"Homura-san, I was captured and kept in a drug induced state for the entirety of my imprisonment. Due to the nature of the information, I cannot disclose how I escaped or where I escaped from, but Hokage-sama has heard the full story and backs my decision to keep it that way. My apologies for the lack of detail." Kira replied. ' **Ha look at you, buttering up the council like a filthy politician'** Juubi snickered in his mind and Kira had to do everything he could to keep a straight face.

Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan, looked over to the blonde ninja in front of him with a critical eye. For all intents and purposes, his backstory and explanations were suspicious and flimsy at best. The only reason he had the benefit of the doubt was that he had the Hokage's backing. Still, Hiashi couldn't shake an uneasy feeling he got from the ninja.

Homura frowned but nodded at Kira's less than satisfactory answers and the Hokage moved forward, "Your identity was destroyed upon your being deemed KIA, You will be registered as a Jounin and will be given a monthly stipend to cover your expenses for the next 6 months. The council may now discuss." Minato finished and leaned back in his chair.

Kira sighed and faced the clan heads and Anbu commander. The clans: Aburame, Akimichi, Nara, Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Inuzuka; were all the main part of the ninja council, being the major clans in the village. There were other minor clans but they were a part of the village council, and not the ninja council.

The clan heads all looked at him and it was Shibi Aburame who spoke first. "Kira-san, my Kikaichu have been vary of your chakra levels since you entered. Is it safe to assume that you have more chakra than normal?"

"Aburame-sama, I am a ninjutsu-specialist and do have vast resources. My chakra reserves are currently above Kage-level and are supposedly still growing. The trade-off is that my chakra control is beyond abysmal." Kira explained, getting raised eyebrows from everyone.

Shibi nodded returned to his motionless, emotionless staring.

Tired of the pointless questions, Hiashi decided to address the obvious question in everyone's mind. "Kira-san, how are you related to the Hokage and why do you have whisker marks on your face, reminiscent of our young jinchuriki?"

The other clan heads were somewhat stunned by the usually calm Hyuuga's blunt question, but were more interested in the answer themselves.

Kira honestly expected this to be the first question he would be asked, and had prepared beforehand.

"Hyuuga-sama, Hokage-sama is just my clan member. I didn't grow up around him and I've never known him on a personal level. That said, I was very surprised that he grew up as strong as he did. The whisker marks is wrongly attributed to the jinchuriki status I'm mistaken, it's actually a marker for our clan. The ones bearing the whisker marks usually have titanic chakra reserves, and only show up once or twice in a few generations. For little Naruto to bear the whiskers and the kyuubi, he must have chakra more than me and half this room combined when he grows up." Kira explained with a happy look.

"I have never heard of such a thing, Kira-san." This time it was Shikaku Nara who spoke up. "I find it hard to believe that such a massive chakra-boosting bloodline would go unnoticed."

Kira answered with a sad tone, "It's true, Nara-sama. It shouldn't go unnoticed, but there need to be people who wield it to make a name. My entire clan was killed in the last war. We were never really a ninja clan, and as such couldn't put up much of a fight. I fled the village and escaped with the basic skills I had and landed in this village." He answered with a sad smile.

Shikaku nodded and then asked again, "Why does no one recognize you? Surely another Namikaze in the village would've drawn attention. I'm the Jounin commander of the village, and yet don't seem to recognize you."

"I was drafted in the Anbu black ops as soon as I showed potential for it. My records -before being erased- were flimsy as is, and it was easier to draft those kinds of people into Anbu, rather than people who, if went missing, would cause problems." Kira answered, having thought of this question too. He had gone over his basic questions that he thought he would be asked, so he didn't have to think much.

Shikaku stared at him. This was the perfect answer to neither raise suspicions, and give information. The Anbu does indeed target people who have less than concrete records. The ninja in front of him either was telling the truth, or knew enough about the village to pass as it's member.

"You said you were a ninjutsu specialist. Elaborate on your other skills," ordered Fugaku Uchiha. Kira nodded and began, "Obviously I'm rooted in stealth and espionage. In combat, I'm a ninjutsu specialist with specialisation in Futon. I have apprentice level skill in fuuinjutsu and apprentice level sensory skills."

Tsume Inuzuka whistled. "Kid's got the full package, eh?" Kira grinned at her, while she returned a fanged grin of her own.

The rest of the clan heads were also impressed, but it was nothing to write home about yet. The skills Kira mentioned were good enough for a Jounin recommendation, but not so impressive as to garner attention, which was just what Kira needed.

Kira had no doubts that most of the people in the room could kill him in a fight. Now, if he went Juubi mode then that number would diminish greatly. Currently, he thought only Minato could defeat him in Juubi mode. He didn't really know enough about the clan heads to figure out who would win.

"Your combat skills are enough to warrant your promotion, but combat isn't all that a Jounin does. Being a Jounin is a symbol of the village's prime ninja. I suggest you be prompted to special Jounin for the time being, until you prove your worth in all the required fields." Spoke Danzo in a quiet tone.

Kira frowned a little. What Danzo said made sense, but the fact was that the lower his rank was, the more pressure he could be put under. He was sure Danzo was only undermining his rank to find a way to interrogate him, and get answers. Kira knew Danzo wanted to know about Dragon, and how he escaped Danzo's notice for all this time. Still, Kira thought he deserved Jounin rank after all he had been through.

"Danzo-sama, I understand your doubt in my abilities due to there not being much records of it, but I assure you that I can carry a Jounin rank with all the necessary requirements. If you still need further convincing then I have already requested Hokage-sama to place me under the direct supervision of Hatake Kakashi to train as a Jounin. I hope that is enough." Kira explained dryly. From his point of view, being under a senior Jounin was enough training.

"I think that's agreeable," spoke Shikaku. "Kakashi is one of our best Jounin, and if he personally vouches for Kira and his abilities, I think it's fair to grant him the rank."

Minato who was calmly listening to it all nodded and agreed. "It's true. I planned on having Kira train under Kakashi, and do a few missions before officially granting him the Jounin rank."

Everyone seemed to agree with the plan, and Danzo himself nodded and sat back, signalling his backing out. "It's settled then. Namikaze Kira, you will be granted a temporary Jounin rank, effective immediately. You will be supervised by Hatake Kakashi, and will report directly to him. As soon as you complete 3 B-rank or higher missions, and Kakashi passes your progress, you will be granted your Jounin rank." Minato said with an authoritative tone.

Kira bowed and stood back up again, "Thank you Hokage-sama. I will not disappoint you."

"Since the subject of the meeting is over, the council is dismissed." Minato said and stood up. Everyone else followed suit and slowly began to leave.

Hiashi approached Kira as everyone was leaving, "Kira-san, unsurprisingly, I'm curious about you. Minato is a very close friend of mine, and he has never mentioned anything about you," he said in a flat tone. "I'm not accusing you of anything, just telling you that the Hyuuga will keep an eye out. The only reason I'm not openly doing anything, is that I trust Minato's judgement. Do not give me a reason to act." He finished with a slight amount of killing Intent, before walking away.

"Whew, that was rough. I didn't expect him to be such an asshole even with his brother alive." Kira said under his breath. ' **He's an asshole to you because he doesn't trust you. He's the head of the strongest clan in the village, after the Hokage he feels like it's his duty to protect the village. Obviously he doesn't trust you and your pathetic excuse of a backstory'** Juubi shed some light on Hiashi. It did make sense when Kira thought about it.

Kira gave a heavy sigh and walked out and into the streets of Konoha, having no further plans for the day. He would start training with Kakashi tomorrow and he didn't feel like independent training at the moment.

He went to his usual spot at the top of the Hokage monument to think. It was too long since he had suppressed his feelings. He needed to come to terms with them. He needed to understand that these people weren't his friends, these people weren't his teachers, these people weren't his village. He died every single time he remember those. ' **Brat, don't beat yourself over it. You've come here to protect them. To save what you couldn't. Don't disgrace the memories of your people."**

Kira felt broken. His one mission in life was to protect his precious people. His nindo, his identity, his self was lost.

He was in the middle of his existential crisis when he just said, "It's not a good idea to sneak up on a ninja."

A moment later a figure walked up behind him and stated calmly, "You're in my spot."

"My apologies," Kira said and prepared to leave when the figure sat beside him. "I never said you had to leave, just that you were in my spot."

Kira noticed the person beside him and saw a woman of about his age who were chain mesh body suit under a tan coat and a short skirt. She had a brown hair in a spiky ponytail and had a box of dango with her.

"Rough day?" She asked him. "You could say that," Kira replied with a heavy tone.

They both sat in silence for some time before the girl asked, "Wanna talk about it? It's my job listening to people talk."

"You're a therapist? Or a spy?" Kira asked sarcastically.

"I'll let you take a guess," came an equally snarky reply. Kira smirked before settling back into his saddened visage.

A few more moments passed before Kira opened up, "I failed. I failed everything I ever stood for, I failed my life's purpose. I don't know what I'm doing any more."

The girl listened to him with a blank look, before looking over the village. "You're still alive. The village is still there. As long as you, a ninja of Konoha lives, while Konoha still stands, you will always have a purpose."

Kira considered her words with a slight bit of resentment. He didn't appreciate having his existential crisis sidelined so easily. "It's not that simple."

"Sure is. You said you didn't have a purpose. That headband sure says otherwise. You might have failed yourself, but you haven't yet failed the village," she explained. "Take a break, breathe and think about your loss. Personal failures are depressing as hell, but you need to move forward as long as you can."

Kira heard her. He understood her. Her words made sense. Yet his mind didn't want to understand her. He didn't want to face the reality right now. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to let everything out and just explode.

"Don't." Came a sudden warning from the girl. "An emotional outburst will just give you a temporary relief. You need to come to terms with it in your own time, not force out everything and hit reset. That's why I'm telling you, breathe. Take your break."

Kira considered her words for a few more moments and sighed again. He was in too much shit and he was too tired for it all. He did need a break, badly.

"You seem to know a lot about all this. I'm going with therapist." Kira tried to divert the topic.

"I do see the worst of people, but I'm no therapist," she grinned.

That's when it hit Kira. That grin reminded him finally of where he'd seen it before.

Before him, sat Anko Mitarashi, the snake mistress of Konoha, former apprentice of orochimaru, and the torture specialist.

"You're a T&I specialist." Kira blankly replied.

"And you just suddenly remembered that. Spill blondie, where have we met before?" Anko asked.

"Nowhere. I just recognized that grin, I saw you around town a couple of times-" Kira blocked a sudden punch from Anko.

"You came in town yesterday and I returned today, you've been in the council chambers since morning, and you're not a professional spy to lie to me," Anko spoke. "I can understand not telling me stuff, but don't lie to me unless you're sure you can do so." She pulled her fist back.

"Information gathering is my speciality. I'll find out what tangents we might have had, Kira." Anko grinned and got up.

"Remember though, breathe, or you'll fuck yourself up even more. You don't want that at your young age," she mocked him one last time before walking away. "I'll see you around town. If you feel like talking more, find me."

She glanced back one last time before disappearing, and leaving Kira alone with his thoughts again.

' **You got the hots for her don't you?'** Juubi mocked him. ' _No damnit, she's the first person I didn't have to think 100 times before speaking to. It's just calming to do so after walking on eggshells for so long'_

' **Whatever you say brat, she's out of your league anyway'** Juubi laughed at his disapproving grunt. ' _I don't care furball. I'm not trying to seduce her'_ Kira answered and got up himself.

He left the Hokage monument and walked towards the village, hoping to get some food before heading to his house. He'd talked to Minato after spending the first night at the residence and moved to an apartment near where he originally lived. Partly because of the nostalgia, and partly because it was the only thing he could afford.

* * *

Minato Namikaze was in his office, dealing with paperwork the best way he knew, by cursing the hell out of it.

He was disturbed from his usual dread by a chuunin rushing in his office

"Hokage-sama! There's an emergency!" he screamed.

Minato looked up and motioned for him to go on. "Hokage-sama! The team we sent to inquire the disappearances have just sent a distress message! They have reason to believe that Orochimaru is involved and are requesting backup for their mission!" The messenger seemed hysteric.

"Calm down first," Minato said and frowned. This was serious. "Get me Kakashi and tell him to get Kira and report here now."

The messenger nodded and ran out. "Bear," Minato said calmly. A moment later an Anbu with a bear mask landed in his office. "You're to accompany Kakashi and Kira in this mission, wait for the other two for the official debrief," Minato ordered.

If there was Orochimaru involved then this mission would be very dangerous. He knew it was a gamble sending in Kira, but he was willing to take his chances. Minato was looking over the mission file before his eyes widened.

The team requesting backup for a supposed Orochimaru situation, was led by Uchiha Hiro, one of the few Uchiha who had unlocked the Mangekyou.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I'm so very sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I was on vacation and couldn't update sooner. Hope you guys enjoy!. I'm going to do a time skip to start of the series within 1-2 chapters so vote on if you want a time skip or want a training montage.**

 **Chapter 4: And Action!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and any of the rights to the characters except my OCs.**

* * *

Kira and Kakashi stood before Minato in his office. The mood was a bit serious as seen by Minato without his usual carefree look, replaced by cold and calculating eyes.

He was looking over the reports and the original mission file. A village few days out had sent an investigation request due to a series of unresolved missing persons case. The mission was supposed to be C-rank recon but the hugely unknown elements in the mission had Minato send in Uchiha Hiro, one of his stronger Jounin accompanied by a couple of rookie chuunin.

Minato cursed his luck, sending in a Mangekyou Sharingan wielding Uchiha in a mission invoking Orochimaru. The whole of Konoha knew about his obsession with Sharingan. Sending in Hiro was akin to serving it on a platter to Orochimaru.

* * *

Uchiha Hiro was sent skidding back by a massive blow. He cursed his luck and recounted how he had landed up in this situation.

Their mission was simple enough, investigating a bunch of missing persons case. Probably bandits he had thought. The mission was below his pay grade, he had thought.

Oh how he wished he was right. They had trailed back the missing persons at night when they saw an active abduction take place. They saved the person being abducted and then Hiro cast a genjutsu on the kidnapper making him think he was successful in kidnapping and the team followed him back to his base of operations, a hidden cave that had a lab inside.

Looking around for a few minutes they soon realized that this base was a hidden base of none other than Orochimaru, which was when they decided to send a distress signal.

The distress signal was one of the newest implementations of Minato. A special seal was given to the team leader of every mission where the details were highly unknown. The seal, when activated, would notify the mission headquarters back in Konoha, along with a short message.

In this case the message was,'Orochimaru's lab. Kidnapped to experiment'.

Shortly after the message they had retreated, but while heading back they were discovered by a mook, who proceeded to scream his head off to call attention, which it did.

They were discovered and quickly attacked by a bunch of shinobi and managed to retreat but were heavily injured. The attacking shinobi let off their assault, but they had already saw the Sharingan and had no doubt retreated to bring a bigger force to capture the team.

They managed to hide in a small cave a bit far from the base but couldn't do much more due to one of the chuunin being injured.

That was almost half a day ago. The other chuunin knew basic medical techniques and had stabilised his counterpart enough for them to move, when they were discovered.

Uchiha Hiro came out of the cave, Sharingan blazing and ready to protect his teammates with everything he had.

He noticed at least 5 shinobi, flanking a lone person who seemed to be their leader. The leader was a large, muscular man with long spiky and wild brown hair, with equally huge arms littered with scars. He was looking at Hiro with a menacing grin and his flanks were all laughing.

"Come with us Uchiha and we'll spare your pathetic teammates. You don't want to be the cause of death of two young budding shinobi do you?" The leader laughed.

Hiro grit his teeth. He could easily take on the 5 shinobi, who looked to be chuunin at best, without breaking a sweat, but that leader was giving him a bad vibe. Maybe in a one on one he could take him down, but he had backup, and Hiro and to protect his team as well. Everything was looking bad for Hiro.

"Well? What's it going to be Pink-eyes?" The leader bellowed and his flanks laughed even harder.

Hiro stood still and then calmly took out a katana and stood in a defensive stance. The leader smirked and the supporting cast sprung into action. 3 shinobi rushed to Hiro while two remained at the leader's side.

The first shinobi attempted to stab him with a kunai and was promptly swat aside with the katana. The second one, following close behind him tried to make use of Hiro being open and tried to land a punch at his body, which Hiro quickly Dodged to the side and jumped back. The third one didn't give Hiro any breathing space as he continued to rush where he was.

As soon as he reached Hiro, he threw a smoke bomb right in front of him and created a smokescreen. Hiro saw his action in slow motion and was ready for the smokescreen, but still a bit on alert with his limited vision.

From within the smoke, he was suddenly pelted with shuriken and kunai. A crude tactic, but effective. He managed to dodge or deflect most of it and jumped out of the smoke.

Right into the leader who had his arm cocked back and glowing blue. Hiro was surprised but didn't let it show and aimed his katana to intercept and hopefully cut the attacking arm.

Just as the fist was about to reach him and be cut by the blade, the blue glow extended from the fist and hit Hiro squarely in the stomach, launching him back.

Hiro corrected himself and landed skidding against the ground, and prepared a jutsu to distract and buy himself time.," **Katon: Hosenka!"** He screamed at launched a volley of small fireballs at his targets. The Hosenka was a personal favourite of Hiro's and it got him out of a lot of terrible situations.

The fireballs all flew straight at the targets with a predictable path and were almost all easily evaded, until they curved at the absolutely last second and impacted with their intended targets. 3 of the offending party were hit while the rest still managed to avoid it.

The leader was still grinning and his arm still encased in a blue glow, which Hiro saw him blocking a fireball with. It looked to be a very chakra extensive technique so he doubted he could use it indefinitely.

Hiro glared at the remaining members, and dared them to make a move.

This time, the leader himself joined the fray and charged himself. Hiro smirked and sheathed his katana, and charged in."You're making a big mistake" he muttered under his breath.

They met and the leader, obviously the slower of the two struggled to land a hit on Hiro. Hiro likewise made glancing blows all over but his adversary just tanked them all. They seemed to be at a stalemate when the leader tried to do his extending fist trick once more, only this time Hiro was ready and used the instance to dodge it and land a kick right in his face, and use it to jump back.

While mid-air Hiro flipped and released another Fireball, intent to burn the momentarily stunned man below him.

The leader managed to recover at the right moment and used his chakra encased arm to shield himself, but screamed due to his arm getting burns.

Hiro landed a little bit farther and was immediately assaulted by the two remaining enemies, who launched their own fireballs at him. Hiro tried to dodge but was thrown off by the explosion of two fireballs colliding so close to him.

The leader took this chance and rushed at the downed Uchiha, intent on smashing his head in. Hiro sensed him coming and as soon as he was right on top of him, Hiro looked straight into his eyes with his Sharingan spinning, putting him in a paralysis genjutsu.

What Hiro forgot to take into account was the blue chakra arm that was already poised to take him out and the chakra already in the process of being extended, which then hit him right in the face with tremendous force, knocking him out.

The leader, as soon as the paralysis effects wore off a few moments later, saw this and laughed."What a mighty Uchiha! Taken out by a simple technique that too in a taijutsu match! Are you guys sure his Sharingan works?" He said mockingly.

He went ahead and stomped on the downed Uchiha a couple of times and then when he was sure he was passed out, bound him and picked him up. When they were about to move away, the leader took a look at the cave and wondered for a moment, before walking away

"Torch it."

* * *

Kira, Kakashi and Bear were rushing through the woods at top speed. Kakashi was a bit surprised that Kira could manage to keep up with him, and when chalked it up to his recent Juubi upgrade.

Their mission was to find and assist Uchiha Hiro and shut down the hidden base they found. Their unofficial mission was to make sure Orochimaru didn't get a fancy new set of red eyes.

The village that Hiro had been sent to was 2 days out and at the speed that they were going, they would reach it in probably 1 to 1 and a half days.

When they passed by a clearing Kakashi suddenly stopped. Kira and Bear landed a few steps ahead of him

"What happened taichou?" Bear asked. Kakashi looked around for something. Kira also started to look around and spotted a burn marks a little ahead. "That what you looking for?" He asked heading towards it.

Bear and Kakashi both started searching for anything else. This was a site of a recent battle. Kakashi soon found 3 burnt dead bodies and kunai and shuriken scattered around. They were about to move forward after thoroughly searching the area when Bear found a cave. He motioned for everyone to look in the cave, and they went in.

As soon as they entered the cave, they smelt something horrible and heard groaning. They fastened their pace and were shocked to find 2 Konoha chuunins badly burnt and lying there. One of them seemed to be heavily injured and obviously dead while the other looked burnt but had signs of life. Bear quickly moved towards the still alive ninja with his hands already glowing green. Kakashi and Kira could only stand by and wait.

When the ninja was stabilised a bit and some of his extreme injuries healed to a certain extent, he awoke with a start

"Wh-Where am I? What's happening?!" He screamed before noticing the Konoha outfits and Anbu."Anbu! Please Bear-san! They took Uchiha-Taichou! You have to help him!"

"Calm down first. Who are 'they'? And where did they take him?" Bear asked in a flat tone.

The chuunin filled them in about their discovery of the base and their escape and fight and then told them about them torching the cave from the outside. A very hasty water wall prevented him from dying but his already injured teammate was killed.

The situation was very tense now. Orochimaru had Hiro within his grasp. They could do nothing but hope to save him before he was killed. For all they know, the abductor had already killed him and plucked his eyes out, but even if there was the slightest chance that that hadn't, Kakashi and his team needed to save Hiro at all costs.

"Bear, is he stabilised enough to be escorted back to Konoha?" Kakashi asked. Bear nodded at him."Good. Kira, can you make a shadow clone that last a day traveling at top speed?" Kira understood his plan and focused for a moment. Suddenly a clone popped into existence. He looked at Kira and saluted before carefully picking up the wounded chuunin and heading out in a dash.

Bear, Kira and Kakashi said a silent prayer and then sealed up their comrade's body, and headed out towards the location of the base.

At the base Hiro finally awoke. His first thought upon visualising darkness consciously was that his eyes were already taken away, but he calmed down when he sensed their presence in his skull. He was blindfolded and bound at the hands and legs and was seated on a chair. He tried to play off still being unconscious to figure out what was around him.

"I know you're awake" Came a man's voice from somewhere beside him.

"Then will you do me the service of freeing me so I can gut all of you? I promise not to make it painful…. Much" came Hiro's proposal.

The man laughed,"I'm sorry that would be incredibly disobedient of me. Orochimaru-sama himself is coming here, and I wouldn't want to be the one to disappoint him." Hiro felt a prick in his skin and felt his blood being drawn.

"How dare you draw my blood you freak!" Hiro shouted and tried to flare his chakra, which was obviously suppressed."Calm down, you're only going to make this more painful for you otherwise" came the man's jovial reply.

Hiro knew he couldn't do anything but wait. His fingers were furiously trying to free him but to no avail. He seemed defeated. He briefly thought about using his cyanide pill in his teeth, but then figured that his eyes would still be harvested and his death be for nothing.

Hearing that Orochimaru himself was coming here meant that he was certainly going to be blind… At best.

He resigned himself to his fate and was almost contemplating killing himself again when he heard a panicked yell somewhere far.

The man beside him seemed to notice it as well judging from his rushed steps away from him.

"What's going on out there?" He asked with authority.

"We don't know sir" came a reply from somewhere.

"Well then GO FIND OUT!"the man yelled, followed by a few hurried footsteps.

Outside of the base was the scene of a massacre, quite literally. Kakashi and Bear were slicing scared mooks right and left, their team choosing to go for the guns blazing route as time was of the essence in this mission.

Kira was tasked with picking off any stragglers and look over their backs for any unscrupulous attempts made by Orochimaru's men. Reaching the entrance of the cave they were finally stopped by the spiky brown haired man who took down Hiro.

"Well well well the famed copycat himself has come to a rescue mission?" The scarred man mocked them.

Bear and Kakashi were about to rush him when they saw a few more of the guards make a perimeter behind him, closing off the entrance. Kakashi told his team,"Bear, Kira. I'll create a distraction and you both head inside. The aim here is extraction not elimination" Kakashi ordered, not taking his eyes off the enemy.

Kira was about to argue but a hand on his shoulder by Bear shot that down. He turned to see Bear nod."We will rush at the perimeter and then rush in, Kakashi-taichou will provide cover and engage the enemy here." Bear told Kira.

The enemy were getting tired of waiting around. One of the ninja from the back stepped forward and started making handseals while the leader grinned. Kakashi and his team got ready to dodge whatever came next but were caught off guard when hands suddenly burst forth from the ground and caught on to their ankles. Kakashi instinctively substituted and Bear and Kira both stabbed the offending appendages, to see them turn into mud. They jumped soon as they were free, and it was not a moment too soon as the place where they were standing was turned into a smoking heap by a fireball exploding on it.

Bear and Kira used this opportunity to rush straight at the leader, who saw them coming and charged up his glowing fist. As soon as they were within striking distance, they swerved around him and dashed straight forward the entrance of the base, decapitating the two guards that were in their way. The leader looked at their retreating frames and was about to chase them when he felt his instincts scream at him to jump.

Just to narrowly avoid Kakashi stabbing him in the back."Filthy Konoha ninja! Backstabbing your enemies?" He growled at Kakashi who was quiet.

The two of them started a taijutsu battle during which the leader saw how outmatched he was. He tried to surprise Kakashi with extending his reach but Kakashi saw it coming and used his surprise at his attack being dodged to slash him across the chest.

"Argh!" He screamed and jumped back to get a breather. Kakashi was in no mood to allow him a moment's rest and began making handseals at a rapid pace." **Katon: Goukakyuu!"** Kakashi screamed, aiming a giant fireball right at the retreating man.

The man tried to jump away but the range of the fireball was too big and he was caught in the explosion. The guards behind him who were waiting for an opening to jump in were likewise thrown away.

Kakashi was about to finish the downed leader with a kunai when a dark and malevolent aura flooded the area. Dark markings took over the downed leaders skin and he stood up."It's over now you fool, you forced me to use my cursed seal!" He said maniacally and charged at Kakashi.

Kakashi was surprised with the sudden increase in speed and was hit squarely in the body with a cursed mark enhanced fist.

A moment later the log that the man had hit broke into splinters. Kakashi eyed the man from afar, trying to understand his opponent. The cursed seal made the user many times stronger, but smarter it did not.

He made some handseals and began to sink in the ground.

The man meanwhile was screaming in rage and trashing the place trying to look for Kakashi. He ran into the treeline and began frantically looking for his target.

Kakashi emerged from the ground a bit behind his target and took his vantage point at a high branch. He decided to test out the raging beast's tolerance to genjutsu. He made a few simple handseals and the beast suddenly stopped looking around frantically. It instead began shaking his head and then suddenly jolted back to look at Kakashi and screamed.

He cocked his hand back and covered it in dark chakra and shot a fist straight towards the one eyed ninja. The dark chakra extended like a spear and impacted the branch right where Kakashi was sitting a moment ago and took down the branch.

While mid-air Kakashi threw some shuriken and kunai to distract the berserker and then threw down a smoke bomb.

The beast charged at the dispersing smoke to obviously find nothing there, when suddenly he looked up and grabbed two descending Kakashi by the neck and slammed them in the ground. They turned out to be earth clones with two tags on their chest which went off right in the cursed man's face, resulting in two point blank explosions.

Kakashi landed a few feet away from the explosion and immediately began charging up a **Chidori**. The man didn't seem to notice anything as the explosion and deafened him a little and had disoriented him but just as soon he recovered he saw a flash of silver hair and then felt unimaginable pain in his body.

" **AARGGHHH!"** he let out a scream and waved his hands trying to get Kakashi away. With a final jolt from his body, his actions began to get sluggish.

Just as Kakashi removed his hand from the bloody gut of his opponent, a pulse of dark chakra took hold of the man again who immediately grabbed Kakashi and took him into a bear hug. Kakashi's lone eye widened as he felt his body getting crushed when he suddenly shot his hand up and electricity cracked all around it with a loud scream his brought down a **Chidori** at the berserker once again stabbing him right where his cursed seal was, at the base of his neck on the left side. The man immediately went limp and Kakashi felt his body be released.

Huffing slightly Kakashi, looked at the bleeding corpse below him before deciding to seal it up in a scroll. Looking over at the base, Kakashi sighed and popped a soldier pill and rushed inside to help his team.

 _Meanwhile with Bear and Kira_

They rushed inside the base to find a full scale lab hidden in it. There were experiments all around and a great many prisoners in different state of consciousness all over the place. They rushed in, taking down any of the remaining guards and memorising the route they took. They freed any prisoners they came across and left a few of Kira's clones as guards for if any guards they missed caused trouble.

When they finally got to a big room where the guards croaked Hiro was kept, they walked in to find a blindfolded and completely immobilised Hiro on a chair, with a scientist holding a knife to his throat.

"Stop right there! One more step and-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as Kira threw a kunai with the hilt aimed at him, and it knocked the scientist back. Bear rushed and subdued him while Kira went to free Hiro.' _ **I never understood the reason to make threats when you clearly are in a position of power. Had he focused more on slashing and less on talking he could've taken the Uchiha down with him but nooooo I am an evil scientist and I must rant'**_ Juubi mocked with a condescending tone in Kira's mind, his hatred for Uchiha never more obvious.

Hiro felt his bonds loosen and himself set free. He stood up to see an Anbu and an unknown Konoha ninja aiding him.

"Thank you for rescuing me but tell me first, are the chuunin okay?" Hiro asked in a worried tone.

Kira looked at him with a sad look and replied,"Well. One of them is fine. We already sent him back to Konoha but the injured one didn't make it."

Hiro looked at the ground,"I see." Kira put a hand on his shoulder."It wasn't your fault. You did the best you could."

Kira could almost feel the man's pain as his own. After all, he also let his friends die.' _ **Careful brat. I don't want you to go down that rabbit hole again. It was your fault, it wasn't your fault, who cares. You have a chance to make things right, make it count rather than moping about the past'**_ Juubi's voice rang out in his mind. He mentally sighed and then put his hand away from the Uchiha's shoulder.

Bear had knocked out and tied up the scientist when Kakashi came in. He looked at Hiro and nodded."Well at least the first part of the mission is over." He looked over at the hogtied scientist,"A gift for Ibiki?" Hiro snorted before Kira made a clone to pick him up and they all began to move out.

"Kakashi-san, what of the villagers?" Hiro asked. It was his mission after all.

"We have cleared the threat they were facing, they can head back home on their own. We can't afford any other stops before we get back to safe grounds." Came his reply.

They prepared to leave the base. Kakashi had taken a corpse with him, sealed up. Kira had his clone pick up the unconscious scientist. Bear and Hiro were empty handed.

They rushed out of the base, out into the woods towards Konoha.

* * *

It was nightfall and the group landed in a clearing about half a day's run from Konoha.

"We'll take a short break here, anyone who wants to rest may do so. We'll leave in 4 hours. Bear and I will keep a lookout." Kakashi said and pulled out a certain orange coloured book.

"Kakashi, I think you should rest as well. You're the only one of us who actually had to fight today. Also you took that soldier pill. Rest it out. Bear-san and I will take point instead." Kira pointed out. It did make sense.

Bear snickered in response. Slowly Hiro and Kira too joined in. Kakashi glared at them with his lone eye and went and lied down. Hiro too went and lied down. Bear stood guard and Kira took to the trees and sat down on a branch. Focusing a little he created around 12 clones and had them take up different positions around their makeshift camp.

Bear looked at him and Kira winked before stretching his legs comfortably on the branch. The moon above was a full one and the unhindered moonlight illuminated everyone's faces.

After about an hour of silently cutting leaves with different parts of his body, Kira spotted Hiro shift uncomfortably a few times. Hiro sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Can't sleep?" Kira asked.

"Don't feel like it."

"You know that we're all ninja here and know better right?" Kira retorted.

Hiro sighed and jumped up to sit with Kira. Kira looked at him, waiting for him to go on. "it's not like I haven't had teammates die before" he started."But… These chuunins.. They were my responsibility. I was supposed to protect them. Minato-sama sent me for that exact reason." He continued, his voice getting sadder with each passing statement.

Kira put a hand on his shoulder."Look. You fucked up. So did we. So did Minato-sama. This was a huge clusterfuck and the fact is, that you can't blame yourself for this. When we get back, Minato-sama is going to blame himself. When we talk to the chuunin, he is going to blame himself. The thing is, it's your mistake, it's his mistake, is everyone's mistake. It doesn't matter. What matters is you did your duty, you tried your best and you did everything you possibly could. No one expects anything more from you." Kira explained with a heavy voice.

Hiro listened to him calmly and felt only one thing from his entire speech; Regret.

For some reason, Hiro knew that Kira was saying all this from experience instead of ideals, and that's what made him even partially believe his words.

They sat at the branch for a little while before Hiro went back and slept for the remainder of their time.

Unknown to them, Kakashi was listening in on the entire conversation.

When they started moving for Konoha again, Hiro looked a little more than just well rested.

 _Hokage tower, Morning._

Minato looked over at the ninjas present before him. Kakashi, Bear, Kira, Hiro and the chuunin.

They had just finished the oral report of their mission and Minato was sighing already. It was very big risk and it was really lucky that Orochimaru himself was not present at the base.

"Hiro, you and your team may leave. You can present your report at your leisure and collect your payment when you do. Dismissed"

Hiro and the chuunin bowed and left. Minato then looked at Kakashi and rubbed his temples."Orochimaru should have been Hokage I swear, he would kill himself with all these migraines this job gives."

"Kira. This was your first mission as a Konoha shinobi. From Kakashi and Bear's reports I can tell that you did well. You're commended by your teammate and team leader, you can collect your payment and a little bonus from the collection office by tomorrow. You're also dismissed." Minato addressed Kira first.

Kira thanked Minato and was about to leave when Kakashi told him to meet him at training ground 7 in an hour. Kira nodded and went outside.

Kakashi turned back to Minato and waited. A moment later the Anbu guards left the office and the privacy seals were up in place."What do you think?" Minato asked, getting straight to the point.

"He doesn't show any hostility towards Konoha or any Konoha ninja. He has no problems taking orders, and trying to defy orders when they're plain stupid. He also gives in his own ideas whenever necessary. All in all he seems trustworthy based on this mission." Kakashi answered. He had indeed kept a close, watchful eye on Kira during the course of the mission.

Minato rubbed his temples. This was better than what he had hoped but then again, it possesses problems of itself. Him being proven trustworthy on this mission could either mean that he really is trustworthy, or that he's trying to play into their hand to be an ideal subordinate until his time comes to backstab them. Needless to say whatever it is, Minato will keep a close eye on him.

It was a boon to Minato when Naruto had asked Kira to stay with them. He could've personally verified his story and him. But Kira felt out of place and had moved out. His only remaining option was to make sure Kakashi can unravel the truth for him.

"One more thing sensei. At night, during our camp,I heard him talk. Uchiha Hiro was badly shaken due to the events of the mission and Kira, he consoled him and it seemed genuine. No spy I have seen could replicate that. I think my mission will turn out to be simpler than we thought it to be." Kakashi finished.

Minato stared at him and thought more about the situation."Very well. I'm guessing you are going to the training ground to start his training right?".Kakashi nodded."Go ahead, you're dismissed."

Kakashi flipped open his book and walked out the front door.

 _With Kira_

Kira had left the Hokage tower and was about to head to the training ground straight away when he suddenly heard someone yell,"Blondie!"

He turned to see Anko waving at him. He walked towards her,"Anko-san, what brings you here?"

"You can call me Anko, or if you really wanna be respectful to me, you can call me mistress, but none of the honorfics please. As for why, well I was just on my way to break down some fresh meat at the centre. I heard you brought him in, wanna see him squirm?" Anko asked while wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"You're supposed to be the torture and interrogation specialist yet I just can't imagine you being scary after you literally just wiggled your eyebrows at me" Kira deadpanned."But to answer your question, yeah why not, I have an hour to kill"

Anko seemingly ignored the jab at her fear factor,"Great let's go!" and dragged Kira towards the T&I centre.

1 hour later Kira would finally understand why she ignored the jab at her fear factor. And why she's the torture and interrogation specialist. And why you shouldn't accompany her in her torture runs.

He was standing with a blank, and horrified look at training ground 7 when Kakashi arrived 3 hours later.

"Yo." Kakashi eye smiled, only to finally notice Kira's face."Uh did something happen to you?"

"Snakes. So many snakes. And there were so many spoons. Why were there so many spoons! KAKASHI THERE ARE SO MANY SPOONS!" Kira screamed while trying to shake Kakashi violently.

"You met Anko didn't you?" Kakashi asked with a simple eye smile

"TAKE AWAY THE GODDAMM SPOONS" he screamed.

' **... What the fuck did I see?'** Juubi agreed with his container.

Kakashi punched Kira in the face to bring him back to reality."You must've pissed her off in some way if she showed you the spoons on your first time down there. But anyway I'm here to begin your fire style training."

Hearing about training Kira's eyes turned to normal for the first time in the past 3 hours.' **If I knew it only took mentioning fire style once to make you stop replaying the GODDAMM SPOONS in your head over and over again I would have burned your mindscape from the inside out'** Juubi groaned from within.

Kira stood straight and said with his own crazy look"Finally! I wanted to learn fire style forever. I have some pretty interesting experiments I want to do with fire and wind style together." Kira began to grin.

Kakashi deadpanned."I think I honestly preferred your spoon-crazy than your fire-crazy, but anyway." He took out a small stick and threw it to Kira."Your first step is to mold fire chakra into your hands and try to burn this stick. It'll help you get a feel for fire chakra and-" Kakashi was stopped mid-sentence when Kira had already burned the stick in his hand.

"You have a fire affinity as well?" Kakashi asked. "The Juubi said I gained all 5 basic chakra affinities when he turned from the kyuubi to the Juubi."

"That is indeed interesting. There's a difference in having the ability to learn all 5 nature transformations, and having an affinity towards all nature transformations."Kakashi explained."Wait, what do you mean?" Kira asked, somewhat confused.

"It means that while you don't have the ability to use all 5 chakra natures from the get go, you have an affinity to learn all 5. While people who suddenly get the ability to utilize all 5 chakra natures, they do so, and in turn don't master them all. They are the people who tend to rely on type advantages to win fights, which will not take them far." Kakashi explained.

"While the people who have an affinity towards all 5 natures, they can master the elements. Sure you will never be as good as the Nidaime and his water or Sandaime and fire unless you devote your whole life to the element, but you'll be good enough to utilize the subtle nuances of every element. If big flashy techniques of every element could win you a fight, even I would never lose a single fight." Kira snorted at this.

"So what you're trying to tell me is that I got it better right?" Kira asked."In a way, it depends on how you fight at the end of the day." Kakashi eye smiled.

He went ahead and explained a few other key chakra theories to Kira before Kakashi finally went ahead and began making handseals.

" **Katon: Hosenka!"** Kakashi yelled, exhaling multiple small fireballs from his mouth that exploded at various places on the ground.

"This is a C-rank technique good for distraction and wide range attacks. I reckon with your ungodly amount of chakra you can probably classify it as a B-rank." Kakashi said as Kira rubbed his head.

Kakashi went through the handseals again, this time slowly so that Kira could see them and follow suit. Kira tried to do the handseals and moulded fire chakra within him to release in short bursts.

" **Katon: Hosenka!"** Kira shot forward multiple fireballs which exploded with a bit more ferocity than Kakashi's and the fires started spreading before Kakashi put them out with some water.

"I didn't actually expect you to get it down within one try but that's a very good thing. We can work on the other aspect of the techniques. Hosenka is a versatile technique, you can control the trajectory of the fireballs, you can increase the number and you can even increase the intensity, which you already unknowingly did. All these make it a great jutsu to start off with." Explained Kakashi to a surprised Kira.

"For the next few days I want you to try and make small and compressed fireballs, as well as to swerve them in mid-air. For your chakra control practice I want you to burn a damp piece of wood. You'll eventually move from flammable to flame retardant materials as you try to master your fire chakra control. If we go by this rate we can also begin your basic lightning style training before the end of this month." Kira looked ecstatic. He was very eager to finally broaden his ninjutsu library.

Granted, his main goal wasn't to master all the elements, but it did sound like a more feasible plan than just using them. Also, if he had the affinity to, then why not.

Currently his main goal was to try and mess around with fire and wind style together to see what kind of things he could do.

He had an idea about a flaming twister that should honestly stay in the forbidden jutsu section for even him.

But since when did he listen to warnings?


	5. Chapter 5

**I have been swamped with work and other stuff and thus the late chapter. This chapter is more like a buffer between the timeskip. I'm going to do one more mission before I jump ahead to the graduation and the beginning of the manga. This is also small reference point to Kira's overall strength and how the battles on this story are going to happen. I'm more for using the elements rather than using big jutsu. Anyhow, please enjoy the story!**

 **Chapter 5: Hardwork**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the franchise, I only own my original content**

* * *

Kira was exhausted. His entire body felt broken and his hands were sore enough for him to consider cutting them off just to relieve him of the pain.

Kakashi was a literal slave driver in this world. He didn't know if it was because he still had Minato to keep him in line or if he simply was a slave driver when it came to serious training, but the end result was that Kira was a slave being driven into the ground for almost every single day for the past year. When he'd asked to be trained by him he had never imagined this kind of torture.

He had even been picked up by Minato to train in fuuinjutsu and taijutsu. He had imagined the fuuinjutsu training to be a break from the body wrecking ninjutsu and taijutsu training from Kakashi. He was wrong.

Minato during fuuinjutsu lessons was an unapologetic demon. He would never forget the amount of times he had written and rewritten the same Kanji over and over again until he could write it in his sleep. Which was true. Minato actually made him do these things when he had just woken up knocking him out and waking him up a few minutes later. It was the only rest he got so he didn't complain.

The only reason he couldn't actually complain to anyone out loud was because of the results. He was getting stronger day by day and he could see the results himself. He was a force to be reckoned with in the battlefield, which was attested by the numerous missions he had been a part of and even soloed.

His year living in the peaceful Konoha, unhindered by the threat of a looming war was practically paradise. It was all he had wished for, since the war had started back in his world. He had made only a few friends in the year but had a great work relationship with many chuunin and Jounin. He realized what his life would be like if he didn't grow up with everyone knowing he was a jinchuriki. It was good.

His year had been fairly uneventful. He had been fully made Jounin within a month of his first mission and had added the vest to his attire. He had begun training with Kakashi and soon after, Minato. He had even spent time with Naruto and by extension Sasuke. It was weird, first seeing Sasuke as a kid. He had honestly wanted to laugh at the seemingly innocent and kiddish face of the person who had almost stabbed him with a sword and still considered a best friend.

He had quickly realized, soon after coming to this world that he would have to let go of his past. He couldn't be friends with his old friends and he'd have to live a different life. His only good friend currently was Anko, and he wouldn't exactly consider her a very good friend for all the shit she continually does to him. She was a great friend but an equally great source of trauma as well.

Thinking of his strengths, he was very happy with his Juubi chakra training. He could easily maintain a 4-tail cloak now, and he had decided it as enough as well. The second stage of the Juubi chakra cloak was a total wild card that Kira did not want to try out. When he would be ready, he would fight Juubi for the Juubi chakra mode, but until then he would make do with 4 tails. The abilities that he had gotten with the Juubi ascension of kyuubi seemed to not only be limited to the 5 chakra affinities. His healing factor was now much stronger and borderline special abilitiy worthy. His minor injuries were healed within seconds of forming and major injuries within minutes. Minato had theorised that he could potentially survive a fatal attack as long as it did not decapitate him or completely vaporise him. He had even noticed that tapping into the chakra mode accelerated this even further.

The second ability he had noticed was that he could fly. Well, sort of. He realized this when he accidentally jumped a little too high and glided down somewhat while dodging during a spar. He'd spent a good deal of time trying to master flying but it seemed to be of no use. Perhaps when he had mastered wind nature he would try again, but until then he'd glide over short distances. Even that would be incredibly useful.

The Juubi cloak seemed to be a much smoother and better transformation than the insanity inducing kyuubi chakra cloak. The Juubi cloak didn't seem to have any adverse effects on his psyche or body and it was much easier to control. Also one of the best things was that he could use all his ninjutsu during his Juubi chakra cloak. The magnitude of the jutsu changed drastically and had much more power due to the dense chakra.

It was honestly very hard to practice those within the village, or even the forest of death. Minato was currently developing a special training ground reinforced with all kinds of seals and techniques where Kira could fight going all out and not cause a huge ruckus or property damage. It was coming along rather slowly, much too slowly for Kira's tastes.

His elemental training was the one that he focused on most during the past year and he was proud of the results. He couldn't wait to test out his strengths against any of the Akatsuki now.

Sighing and giving in to his exhaustion, Kira finally slept in his bed, hoping that tomorrow was at least different than today.

* * *

A man clad in black Anbu gear with a blank white mask with two eye holes and no patterns was outside near a window. He quickly looked around and flared his chakra at the window and attempted to open it. The window showed resistance but soon gave way at the repeated pulling. The man entered the room and looked around. Quietly stepping around the room he spotted a man sleeping in a bed.

The Anbu cautiously walked towards the sleeping man and took out some chakra suppression seals. As soon as was within striking distance of the sleeping man, he pounced on the man and attempted to slap the seal on his chest.

As soon as the seal was slapped onto the sleeping man's chest, he opened his eyes to reveal two surprised blue eyes which were widened, right before the surprised eyes eased into a calm look and a smirk, before disappearing in a plume of smoke. The offender was disoriented for a moment and recovered just in time to see two seals on the wall above the bed glow yellow before the man felt his body being constricted.

"Pretty neat Huh?" A voice said from behind the paralyzed man. "The seals emit a low charge of electricity directly into the target's body and restricts any movement. Based off the normal paralyzing seal but much quicker to effect and a longer range to boot."

The paralyzed man realized he couldn't even speak and resorted to try to escape. He flared his chakra but the glow of the seals increased and deceased as he did. "If only it were that simple. True that flaring the right amount of chakra in a pattern could take you out of the simple paralyzing tags but come on, what part of an eerily glowing yellow seal did you think was normal?".

The man walked forward, into view of the paralyzed man and switched on the lights in the room, revealing his blond and whiskered face.

"If I'm right then removing your mask or attempting to make you talk about your beneficiary would be pointless." The man obviously couldn't respond in any way. "I'll take that as a yes."

Kira walked forward and touched the man's mask. He began tracing his finger around the rim of the mask. "There." Kira exclaimed as he found a small matrix of seals around the base of the left ear.

He sat down and examined the seal, and then tapped seal on his wrist that released a brush and ink. He quickly began drawing a small seal matrix around the existing one and then after he was finished, both the matrices disappeared. Kira grinned before he grabbed the mask and removed it from the man's face, revealing a perfectly stoic and average face. "I'm not even sure if the stoic expression is because of my paralyzing seal or what I think your training is."

"At any rate this is an excellent time to study the seal you no doubt have on your tongue." Kira went ahead and opened the paralyzed man's mouth and Prodded his tongue. "For an underground and shady organisation you take your hygiene pretty seriously." Kira chuckled at his own jokes and continued to copy down the seal on a blank paper. As soon as he was finished he made some hand seals and the seals behind him dimmed a little. The paralyzed man could soon move his head and speak. As soon as he regained movement, he moved his mouth in a weird way and looked like he was trying to say something. Kira thought that the seals effects didn't completely wear off properly when suddenly the man's eyes rolled back and he started foaming from the mouth.

"Ah. A suicide pill. Probably should have checked for that." Kira rubbed his head.

' **Real professional brat'** Juubi mocked from within. He had been getting more and more sarcastic the last year. Maybe he finally grew into his power and this world? Kira would never know.

Kira walked to his window and opened it. He threw up a simple flash tag in the air and it did it's job.

A few moments later an Anbu showed up, investigating the flash.

"Down here Anbu-San." Kira called out to the investigating Anbu.

"You really should not use false alarms just to get out attention Kira-san", said the Anbu patronisingly.

"But I did need your help Mr. Anbu-San" Kira said in a childish tone. "This bad man tried to kill me!" The Anbu stiffened. He jumped down from the roof into Kira's apartment to see a dead Anbu, foam in its mouth.

"This seems like a suicide pill." The Anbu noted. He saw the discarded mask and immediately sealed it."I apologize for the attack on your person Kira-san. It seems like the Anbu need to be more vigilant. I'll report the attack. Do you have any idea who would do this? Or why?" The Anbu asked Kira.

"Officially? No. Unofficially? We both know whose man this is. Just keep an eye out for their activity." Kira said while walking towards his bed.

The Anbu nodded and disappeared with the body. Kira sighed and stretched while preparing to sleep again. He made a clone which reset all the security seals while he fell asleep.

* * *

 _The next morning_

Kira landed on his regular training grounds to find Kakashi and Minato standing there.

"Minato-sama I respect the fact that you're taking time out of your busy schedule to teach me fuuinjutsu but keeping in mind the fact that you just murdered my hands yesterday, can we please reschedule for tomorrow? It took me 2 damn hours to have dinner!" Kira pleaded, without any restraint.

"Just for that comment alone I'll postpone the special exploding tag variant I was about to teach you _tomorrow_ " Minato fired back, with a satisfied smile seeing his student die a little inside. "But no, I'm not here to teach you fuuinjutsu today. I want you to spar Kakashi to see how far your training has gotten. From what Kakashi has told me you're finished with your Fire and Lightning training, and are in the process of mastering Wind. You've chosen to master Wind and be proficient in all other elements, which is something I can respect. Most people would jump at the chance to master every single element at the same time and end up not doing anything. Your fuuinjutsu is nothing to scoff at and you can use it battlefield situations. Your genjutsu is negligible but the Juubi inside you makes sure you have immunity to anything but the strongest genjutsu out there. You don't use any weapons apart from the general kunai and shuriken and some basic tools to switch it up. Did I get everything right?"

"Yes Minato-sama. You didn't count the Juubi chakra cloak but I'm assuming you don't want me using that in the spar." Minato nodded. "I'm supposed to start Earth style training next but that can wait, I want to focus more on the 3 I know right now."

"What about summons?" asked Kakashi.

"I had a toad summoning contract back in my time but I guess I'll have to wait till Ero-sennin gets back." Said Kira.

"Well that's settled then. You can begin the spar after your stretchings." Minato said as he jumped up on a tree branch and opened up a sealing book. Kakashi took out his own book which was much more colorful.

Kira began his stretches and warming up and he was finally ready to begin his spar with Kakashi.

"Begin!" Yelled Minato.

Both the figures launched at each other with a ferocity one wouldn't expect from a spar. Sparks began flying everywhere due to the kunai they both were using to slash and stab each other. Kakashi noticed a green glow around Kira's oncoming kunai and immediately dodged back instead of parrying it.

Jumping a few steps back he threw some kunai at Kira who sidestepped them all. Kakashi pulled out a smoke bomb and instead on throwing it at the ground in front of him, he threw it right in front of Kira.

As soon as the smoke pellet exploded Kira could smell a pungent odour all around him. _He used it to tag my scent. Smart. The diversionary tactics go out the window for me_.

Kira waved his hand and the wind cleared up the smoke to reveal an empty training field. A few moments later a bunch of shuriken launched from the treeline to hit Kira from behind. Kira dodged all of them and created 5 clones who rushed the trees.

When they were all popped Kira got the memories of Kakashi hiding and assaulting the clones in the forest. He was about to launch in the forest when suddenly hands burst from the ground and caught his ankles.

Kira immediately substituted a log in his place and disappeared into the other side of the trees. While hidden, he quickly unsealed his sealing supplies and started drawing a few Kanji on his palms. After a moment of quiet the wind suddenly picked up all around the training ground. Kakashi suddenly shot from the trees into the open ground, followed by 4 Kiras. The Kira all had an evil glint in their eyes and the retreating Kakashi looked annoyed.

Kakashi's annoyance was soon explained when one of the Kira landed close to him and violently exploded, throwing Kakashi off balance for a moment, which was all the clones needed to converge on his location and explode with similar explosions, which rocked the training ground.

Kakashi emerged from the canopy with a few singed hair and smoking body. His head suddenly jerked up and he jumped away, not a moment too soon when the branch he was on was suddenly struck by lightning.

Kakashi kept jumping away and being chased by lightning when suddenly he turned back and made hand seals. " **Fuuton: Daitoppa!** ".

A large gale of wind slammed into the chasers, making them explode in plumes of smoke. Kakashi took this moment of breath to quickly submerge underground and create clones to spread out.

While searching for Kira via scent they were hard pressed to trace the pungent smell, which they quickly understood was due to the winds flowing all around them. _He's using the continuous flowing wind to mask his scent. Clever but it's very chakra extensive. But then again, he has literally enough chakra to keep this up for weeks._

Kakashi finally found Kira sitting on a tree branch preparing traps. _Great, he's got this area laid with traps. This is why I hate fighting fuuinjutsu specialists._

Kakashi's clones shot out of the earth a distance away and formed handseals." **Katon: Goukakyuu!" , "Fuuton: Daitoppa!".** A massive for formed in front of the clone and shot towards Kira, while the gale force winds fanned the flames to cover a huge area and increase the intensity to make the heat unbearable.

Kira looked on the approaching firestorm before slamming his palms on the ground. A screen of chakra quickly rose in front of Kira and took on a red hue, before clashing with the firestorm. Kira was pouring in chakra into the seal before the seals themselves burned up and the firestorm, having lost most of its intensity and power washed over a retreating Kira to give him light burns all over his body. "Son of a burning bitch argh!", Kira's pain was apparent.

Crouching disoriented and huffing slightly Kira suddenly looked up to see Kakashi descending on him with a kunai drawn. Kakashi was about to stab him before Kira jumped back and put his palm in front of Kakashi's face, where a seal glowed.

The seal flashed with a brilliant light and completely blinded Kakashi, who was on trying to rub his eyes clear, Kira rushed at him and struck him in the chest with his other palm, where a seal appeared on Kakashi's chest and his body became paralyzed. Kira put a kunai on his throat. "It felt good punching you we should really do more spars and less training." Kira said to a downed Kakashi.

Kakashi just eye-smiled before his body exploded and sent Kira reeling back into the a tree."Ugh this is why people hate exploding clones. Got it." Kira said while massaging his head.

Kakashi observed his enemy, who was healing at a freakish rate. Normal knockout moves just wouldn't work on him and a battle of attrition was a completely lost cause. This was a tremendous advantage to have in a war. Many legends were taken out not by stronger shinobi but by having to fight many people for a long time without rest.

Kira launched a few kunai at the mentally absent Kakashi who dodged them at the last second and came back to reality, which was a maniacal blond charging at him with a lightning encased fist.

Kakashi tried to jump but suddenly felt a lot heavier. He realized the wind all around him had pinned him to the ground and Kira suddenly appeared before him, hitting him square in the chest with a electrically charged fist, shocking Kakashi and launching him back a few metres. The Cyclops managed to right himself in midair and landed stumbling. He decided to finally use his Sharingan so as to not get caught unaware like that again. Opening his scarlet eye he was hit with too much information at the same. The wind all around him was being forced to move by Kira and the blond himself was wasting chakra like no tomorrow, either to overload his senses or just because he could.

Kakashi quickly saw him trying to pin him down with the air but a quick burst of chakra disrupted their flow around him and he jumped away. He saw Kira chase him with his hands going through seals." **Raiton: Gian!"** A massive bolt of lightning escaped Kira's hands which struck the tree Kakashi was about to land on, Kakashi was forced fall further than he wanted to and Kira quickly boosted his speed to catch Kakashi. The grey haired man quickly turned around and created a clone next to him. The clone and him touched their outstretched hands and then pulled back to reveal an electric wire between their fingers. They waited for Kira to jump before trying to catch him in midair where he would not be able to maneuver as freely as on land.

Kakashi and his clone aimed to bisect the airborne Kira when Kira himself threw both his hands open and yelled, " **Fuuton: Kazekiri!" (** Wind style: Wind blade). The clone exploded with a slash on his chest and the technique dispelled, while Kakashi brought his free hand in front of him and used it as a shield and reinforced it with chakra, to only get a small cut on his forearm.

Kira seemed to be unharmed but instead of landing he fell on the ground. His legs and lower body were still hit by the current escaping Kakashi's hands and he was momentarily paralyzed. Kakashi, intent on making the most of this chance immediately charged up a Chidori. He was about to rush to Kira to finish this spar up when he felt the wind around the area converge on Kira. Kakashi charged at Kira who pulled back his arm.

As soon as Kakashi was more than halfway between them he felt his entire body, apart from his lightning encased arm push back due to the wind. Kakashi was halted with the Chidori in his arms starting to lose power.

"This is the first time I'm actually testing this out in the field so please don't kill me for it" Kira stated, before launching his pulled back arm and opening it in Kakashi's direction. " **Heatwave!"** A blast of wind escaped from it and threw back Kakashi a few feet while dispelling his Chidori. He felt minor cuts all over his body but he noted that the wind felt really hot for some reason. He couldn't think of anything when all of a sudden his body seemed to scream."Urgh!" Kakash exclaimed while hei slumped into the ground. His entire body felt like it was on fire. He looked up to see Kira standing over him with a kunai.

Minato appeared beside them signifying the end of their spar, in Kira's favour. "What was that last technique you used? Kakashi wouldn't go down from a few cuts" Minato asked while checking Kakashi's body. He found that some of the cuts on his body seemed to deepen and darken. "Err Minato-sama I think we should get Kakashi some water first." Kira looked worriedly over the wounds. Minato nodded and teleported them over the river on the other side of the training grounds. Kakashi seemed to breath a sigh of relief in the water.

"So what was it? Even my Sharingan couldn't copy it." Kakashi seemed very interested in the seemingly strange technique.

Kira rubbed his head," It was just something I came up while messing around with the elements. I was trying to create a firestorm like you did with your clones but on a wider scale. I overcharged the technique with too much wind chakra and it backfired. Few of the wind blades hit me and the cuts they caused actually took me a moment to heal, which was incredibly weird. So I started to figure out what exactly happened." Kira explained. He held up his palm and created a small air ball in it. " I took the wind jutsu and added trace amounts of fire chakra in the formation period, which made the entire thing laced with fire. Not visible to the naked eye and only felt in the wounds it caused. The fire chakra in the cuts cause immense pain and can take down people in the direct blast range, as we saw with Kakashi." Kira finished. He held up another wind ball, this time with a small orange hue in the middle of it. He shot both of them at the water below them and saw both of them burst on the surface to create a few cuts in the water, only for orange ball's cuts to steam a little after a second.

Minato was highly impressed with Kira, and so was Kakashi. The ingenuity behind the technique was great and the technique itself was incredibly useful. The unknown nature of the technique will catch many enemies off guard, especially because the effects are completely lost to the observers. Minato smiled at the smug blond. "Kakashi, you can take the rest of the day off. Kira, head to the Hokage tower." Minato dispelled with his orders given

* * *

 _At the tower_

Kira landed right in the office through the window. "You know, just because I told you to come to my office doesn't mean through the window right?" Minato said while not looking up from his paperwork. Kira grinned at him and sat and the sofa waiting for Minato to finish up with his paperwork. After a few minutes Kira heard a satisfying stamp seal and looked up to see Minato finally look at him.

Kira stood up and went to him and stood in front of his desk."Kira, as you know Naruto just entered the academy along with the other clan leader's kids. I want you to take lead of a team when they graduate." Minato stated with his hands clasped.

Kira had wide eyes and a confused face. " Are your sure Minato-sama? I don't think even I'm ready for that" Kira confessed. Taking charge of the future of 3 young lives was not something he was too keen on.

"I know but think about it. You do have 4 years to train and think. I see an amazing amount of potential in you. Besides, you do have a sense of belonging with that particular group don't you?" Minato said with a longing smile. Kira understood his meaning and looked at the ground sadly.

He still remembered every single thing about his past life, not like he could forget anything that he wanted to anyway. Kira looked up at Minato again. "Thank you for the opportunity Hokage-sama. I'll think about it"

Minato smiled. "Take it easy Kira. You're very strong now and you will only grow stronger as time goes on. You deserve a break now and then too." Minato seemed to think for a moment."Actually," he looked around a few Scrolls and papers. "There it is!" He tossed a mission scroll to Kira. Kira quickly opened it to see mission details for a B-rank mission. It was a guard detail for a wealthy merchant who would be going around a few minor villages in the fire country. All the villages were fairly close to Konoha, hence there was almost negligible threat and the guard detail specified a 3-4 man cell, so there would be no problems of being overwhelmed with guard duties. It was as close to a paid vacation that a ninja could get.

Kira looked giddy as he read through the mission scroll.

"I'd recommend taking either 1 Jounin and 1 chuunin with you or 1 Jounin and 2 chuunin. Having 3 Jounin would be overkill and stretch the pay very thin. Depending on the lineup you choose, you could be leading it as well so good luck" Minato flashed a smile before returning to work.

"Thank you Hokage-sama" Kira bowed and went to the mission room, already thinking about names.

* * *

 _At the Academy_

"This is so boring!" Whispered Naruto to the drowsy Uchiha next to him. Both of them were trying their hardest not to fall asleep while the lecturer went on about the village ranking system. This was basic knowledge and it was a shame that it needed to be a lesson in the academy according to Naruto.

"If this is how the academy is going to be like, I'd much rather stay home or skip classes as a whole" contemplated Naruto out loud.

Sasuke was trying his hardest to stay awake when he yawned, promotion Naruto to do the same a few moments later. Unfortunately for Naruto, that was when the lecturer also noticed it.

"Is the class too boring for you Namikaze-san?" The lecturer asked threateningly.

"Hell yeah it is!" Naruto fired back causing the class to laugh and the lecturer to get angrier.

"Not everyone has the luck of being the Hokage's son and learning everything before the academy Naruto, there are many people here who have had no prior training. Just because you started a year or two before them doesn't mean you should disrupt my classes." The lecturer attempted to chastise Naruto, who clearly looked more bored than ashamed.

A chalk hit Naruto dead on the forehead. "Hey what gives?!" Screamed Naruto.

"Seems like you're not ready to be a ninja yet are you?" The lecturer chuckled and went back to explaining the different ranks.

Unknown to the lecturer, he had just kindled the prankster blood of Kushina lying dormant inside Naruto, who vowed to take revenge.

The revenge fuelled gazed of his wasn't missed by Sasuke who groaned, knowing that Naruto would inevitably drag him in his mess too. Sometimes he wished he was antisocial.

When lunch rolled around all the students rushed out to enjoy their break. Naruto and Sasuke were about to leave when the lecturer called them.

"Hello there Naruto, Sasuke. I called you here because yes, I did notice the both of you getting very restless during my lecture. I know it's because these are things that you've studied in the past and it's boring to read repeatedly, trust me, I've been doing this for years. I'd much rather target practice all day." Naruto and Sasuke snickered. "Thing is, I can't really change the syllabus. Well, not alone. Minato-sama did have some reformative ideas to put in place for the academy but he needs solid proof of the reforms working. If you both could help me prove to the other teachers that the reforms are worth implementing, then not only would you both become much stronger genin at the time of your graduation, you would also help the future generations become stronger. What do you say?"

Naruto and Sasuke pondered about this. It sounded like a lot of work and honestly all they wanted was to spend less time at the academy, not more. "What would we have to do?" Sasuke asked

"Extra classes covering a more advanced syllabus. I promise it won't be boring. If this works out then by the time you guys hit your final year it would be your only syllabus, and you'll get a headstart."

They both looked at each other and thought hard. Naruto whispered something in Sasuke's ear and he grinned. Naruto flashed his own smile.

"You let us skip classes without it showing on records and we show up for every single extra class." Naruto extended his hand.

The lecturer narrowed his eyes, and thought, before relenting and shaking his hand, "Not more than twice a week, and your actual attendance shouldn't dip below 75%. There's only so much I can cover up."

Naruto jumped in joy and Sasuke grinned. They both rushed out into the ground to have lunch. The lecturer himself sighed in relief before beginning to write a formal plea to the Hokage to implement the reformations.

* * *

 _With Kira_

Kira was walking around the town heading to Ichiraku's at a slow pace. He was thinking of the people he would take on his vacation mission when he spotted someone. Quickening his pace to catch up to the person in question he landed right next on them.

"Hey there" Kira opened, not bothering to look at the person.

"Blondie! How's it going?" Came the jovial reply of Anko who seemed to be finding something, or someone.

"What are you looking for?" Kira asked.

"Neko-chan. She's supposed to be stationed here but I can't find her." Anko pouted. "She's supposed to pay up after she lost a little bet yesterday. Poor fool thinks guys can hold up to these." Anko said while motioning to her ample breasts, making Kira sweatdrop.

"I've found that the quickest way to find an Anbu," Kira began, before throwing a kunai up in the air, "Is to give them a reason to investigate" and throwing another kunai at it, making a metallic clanging sound.

While the sound itself was fairly loud, it would get downed in the sea of commotion in the streets below, but to the trained ear, the sound would be as clear as a thunderclap. Moments later an Anbu showed up.

"What's the issue?" Cat asked Kira right before noticing Anko standing there with a shit-eating grin.

"Nekoo~chan!" Anko said in a singing voice. "Pay up!" She said grinning.

Cat looked like she was glaring daggers at the blond through her mask which seemed highly improbable but everyone believed it. She took out a wallet and handed some bills to Anko before jumping away.

"Cha-Ching!"Anko was more than happy. "So what's up blondie?"

"I was on my way to Ichiraku's, let's talk there" Kira said while beginning to run towards the aforementioned place.

When they both landed in Ichiraku's, Kira ordered up and began to tell her about the mission he was assigned.

"God I love paranoid rich people. They pay top shelf money to fight the occasional bandits. It's honestly a vacation in all but name. You're lucky" Anko nudged him in the arm.

"You wanna accompany me? I have room for 2 more people. You're a special Jounin, if we take another Jounin then we'll be set" Kira asked.

Anko winked at Kira, "So this was your master plan all along? To take me to a vacation outside the village to finally get in my pants? You overdid it man, some nice sake would've also worked." Anko said while running her shoulders on his chest.

Kira facepalmed. "Fine I'll take that as a no then. Maybe Hiro would like to go" Kira made a show of thinking very hard before he got smacked on the head, "Geez here I am offering you paid vacation and you're hitting me! Maybe I really should drop you" Kira groaned.

"Aw shut up you love me, by the way thanks for the beef, see ya!" Anko dashed out of the stall before Kira could understand anything.

"Beef?" He looked down to see his ramen missing it's main ingredient. "Anko I swear to god I'll end you one of these days" Kira darkly muttered.

Why do his friends have to be such dicks?


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! It's been a long time and I've planned out my story much more now so updates will be frequent again (hopefully) as all times, feedback is highly appreciated so please review. If you have any ideas you think can implemented in the story please tell me. Anyways, enjoy the story!**

 **Chapter 6: Vacation...?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just my original content.**

* * *

Kira and Anko were waiting near the village gates. Kira was in his normal Jounin outfit while Anko was in her outfit with an extra backpack.

"This is the best mission ever!" Anko happily exclaimed

"Doesn't seem like it with you screaming in my ear every second" Kira replied while casually going through his new sealing book. Reading while doing the basic motions of the day is something up he picked up from Kakashi, and reading about seals and different methods of messing with them is something he picked up from Minato.

Anko attempted to sweep his legs but Kira jumped and dodged it, book still in hand. Anko attempted to swipe at him again and he dodged it yet again.

By the time the third member of the team arrived, Anko was wildly kicking and swiping at Kira's legs who was furiously jumping around but stubbornly refusing to look away from his book, which from the look on his face was not being read. It would take a while before he could be on Kakashi's level of nonchalance with a book in hand.

Anko noticed the newcomer first and immediately jumped towards her, "Kurenai-Chan! You're finally here! We can finally leave for our vacat-!" Kira bumped her on the head. "Mission!".

Kurenai sighed at her friend's antics before acknowledging Kira. "Good morning taichou"

"You don't have to be so formal with me Kurenai. Save that for the client." Kira replied jovially.

"He's right, we don't need to act stuck up the whole time. Such a relief isn't it?" Anko grinned.

Kira clapped his hands. "Well now that the whole team is here, let me debrief you guys once more. We have been hired by our client to be his guard detail as he travels to a few towns in the fire country. These towns are small, and are relatively close to Konoha, so there's hopes of no conflicts in this mission. It is going to span anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. Is that clear?"

Both Anko and Kurenai nodded. "Great, let's leave. We are supposed to meet up with the client in a small village a few hours from here. He's supposed to be there tomorrow at dawn so we'll get there by today evening and wait. Everyone ready?"

Receiving two more nods from his team, the trio jumped into the woods, taking off at high speeds towards their destination.

 _At the Hokage tower_

Jiraiya was sitting in the office with Minato and they were discussing the latest spy reports from all over. The biggest problem they were noticing was the rise of missing nin everywhere.

"Sensei, Do you think we should do anything about this? Missing nin in these great numbers could pose a problem in the future." Minato asked Jiraiya.

"No, we actually can't." Jiraiya answered. Somewhat confusing Minato. " If we go too hard on every single missing nin right now, they'll stop operating by themselves and instead actively try to join other villages, or form their own teams. All of them operating in a wild and unorganized manner is better the in the long run." Jiraiya explained.

Minato adopted a thoughtful look. "What about a single person then? or a single team?If I were to send someone like Kakashi or Asuma with a couple of my Anbu, I could do a sweep of the land and make it look like normal missions instead of the village changing their approach and forcing them to band together." Minato said.

Jiraiya considered his words for a moments before laughing. "And this is why the old monkey was right in making you Hokage." Minato smiled at him.

"So." Jiraiya began again. "Tell me about him" he said cryptically. "I know he's been avoiding me purposely. I need to know why."

Minato paused. Looking intently at Jiraiya and thinking. His eyes steeled and his smile disappeared. "It's complicated sensei. I just can't explain it in any simple words. When the time comes, it'll all be clear but believe me, there's nothing to be worried about. He's on our side."

Jiraiya clicked his tongue."Feh. I trust in your decision making skills but I need you to know that a strong shinobi like him just couldn't have stayed under the radar at all. This only means that he was either hiding or being hidden, both of which are not good."

They both looked at each other for some time before Jiraiya got up. He walked towards the window before looking out at the village. "I trust you, Minato. It's just…. I've seen that trust never works out in our world. Convenience is generally a facade for infiltration." Minato sat back, interlocking his fingers and not meeting Jiraiya's eyes.

"Well, I'm off. I gotta pick up a few _stuff_ before I hit the road again." Jiraiya giggled.

"You're still making more of those books sensei?" Minato asked curiously.

"It's the epitome of literature! It's the ultimate guide to happiness! My fans are all over the shinobi world! If there comes a time of peace it'll be through the shared love for my book!" Jiraiya defend his sacred texts with gusto.

"If something like that happens then the female population would hunt down and kill you" Minato shot back.

Jiraiya slumped his shoulders, all enthusiasm lost. "No one believes in me…." He finally jumped away and ran over the roofs, in the direction of the hot springs Minato wagered.

Minato looked over his pile of paperwork and created a shadow clone. The clone sat down and began grumbling about paperwork and Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow.

 _With Kira and team_

They were running in relative silence with Anko occasionally making stray comments. They had been making good time and would reach their destination by evening as they had hoped.

"Kira, who's the guy we're protecting anyway?" Anko asked with mild curiosity.

"Report didn't say. Which means he's either high profile or doesn't want records to have his name. Not unusual but definitely noteworthy." Kira answered.

"Wait the villages don't do a background check on the clients?" Kurenai asked.

"The villages don't usually look into every single client but they do have a fair idea of who is trying to hire them. Usually the village would refuse missions from extremely shady individuals but that's more of a guideline than a rule. The village's curiously about the clientele increases with mission rank. S-rank missions are the most investigated while D and C-ranks are usually left to their own devices. Our mission is a B-rank with higher pay so we can allow the client to keep his identity if he wants." Kira explained.

Kurenai listened and nodded and continued moving forward with the team. They had been closing in on their target village and would reach it very soon.

"Race you to the village!" Anko screamed and broke formation and then suddenly quickened her pace.

"Anko don't break formation! It could be dangerous!" Shouted Kurenai but even saw Kira grin at her and disappear in his own burst of speed.

"I'm surrounded by idiots…" Kurenai sighed, defeated, and then running after them.

The trio finally reached the village with Kira taking the win by a big margin and Kurenai coming in last.

"Didn't know you were such a stamina freak Kira-Chan" Anko said while perversely giggling at Kira.

"You do forget I'm your senior here and can send you back from the mission right?" Kira smirked.

"I'll be good!" Anko rubbed her head.

"So, what are we to do now?" Kurenai asked.

"Well since we're here already and the client is due tomorrow, this is your downtime. I hear this town is famous for it's silk so you might shop some. I'm going to train for a bit in the forest, we'll rendezvous at the inn at nighttime." Kira said. Anko and Kurenai looked at each other.

"We'll come along too, besides Kurenai here hasn't seen you fight." Anko nudged Kurenai.

"Oh yeah that's right. I never got to show off in front of you.I trained with some other Jounin from time to time but I figured your genjutsu specialty would never help me. Sorry." Kira smiled sheepishly. "Come along, I spotted a nice little clearing just a few kilometres from here."

The three of them strolled towards the clearing while Kira sent a clone to the inn to make reservations.

"Alright! Kurenai you want to go first?" Kira asked.

Kurenai pulled out a kunai while Anko jumped back and made herself comfortable in a tree.

Kira nodded at Kurenai who dashed at him and proceeded to swipe at him from multiple angles. The blond easily dodged them all and was about to punch her in the stomach.

" **Dodge back** " came Juubi's tired mutter. Kira wasted no time and did as directed. A moment later he felt his chakra being spiked from Juubi and the world around him shimmer a little.

"Impressive, I didn't even notice when you put me under the illusion." Kira commended his raven-haired teammate. Said teammate made a single handseal and Kira was immediately assaulted by a deafening high-pitched noise.

"Urgh!" Kira hunched over and as soon as the noise had started, it died down. " **You're getting sloppy** " Juubi commented from within him. Looking up he didn't find Kurenai anywhere.

This time, Kira made a handseal and the wind around him picked up considerably. He closed his eyes and tried to sense Kurenai around him. Kurenai meanwhile was hiding with a genjutsu near him and was trying to sneak up on him from behind.

As soon as she reached striking distance she abandoned her cloaking technique and rushed to stab Kira, but found her body halted by strong winds originating from her target.

"Neat right? It took me a long time to fine-tune it but it works wonders now. I'll explain how it works after the fight." With a flick of his wrist Kurenai was sent flying back, courtesy of the wind doubling down on her.

The genjutsu mistress corrected herself in midair and landed on a tree sideways, and then proceeded to weave an intricate seal pattern. After her final seal, she rippled and disappeared from the blond's view. Kira cocked his eyebrow, he couldn't even find her in the wind encircling him. A little while later Kira felt his body slowly seize up and then suddenly roots shot up the ground and entangled him. He smirked and fluctuated his chakra.

The illusion flickered but then set back up and he felt himself completely immobilised, bound in a tree. ' _Juubi? What's happening? Why didn't it dispel?'_ Kira tried to contact Juubi but to no avail. He soon saw Kurenai materialize near him and was about to stab him when Kira tried one last tactic and expelled a big burst of lightning chakra from his body. The illusion broke and he heard Kurenai scream and retreat. Kira came back to reality and saw a lightly disoriented Kurenai. He immediately rushed her and let loose a fist right at her face. Kurenai braced for an impact that never came, and saw Kira stop his face right in front of her face.

"I believe this spar concludes?" Kira asked jokingly.

Kurenai huffed and Kira extended his hand to help her up. "That was a really impressive last trick, what exactly did you do? I couldn't even contact Juubi from in there." Kira asked her, genuinely impressed with her skill. He would have to brush up on his genjutsu detection skills and practice breaking free from them.

"It was a double layered immobilisation and senses isolation technique. The reason you couldn't break free was because I was in contact with you and continually forcing my chakra inside you. The only way to break free of that was to remove me and disrupt the chakra at the same time, something which you instinctually did. I'm surprised really." Kurenai revealed while shaking her hands to get the feeling back in them.

Kira rubbed his head and laughed nervously. Kurenai's glare at him told him all he needed to know about her actual feeling and him brushing off her strongest techniques. Still, she was taking it better than most other Jounin that he trashed. He remembered when he had impressed Gai enough that he opened the first 2 gates….. The utter curb stomp that followed after that was nightmarish. But he shuddered more at the thought of actually surviving that and Gain marking him as a rival. Truly the worst torture one could undergo during peacetime.

Kira was going over his thoughts when he suddenly felt the urge to jump, which he did.

Anko landed with her fist cracking the ground, smirking, "My turn blondie!" Two snakes extended from her fist and dashed towards Kira who jumped up and away.

Anko gave chase while throwing kunai with deadly accuracy at the blond, who knocked them all out of trajectory with the wind around him. Anko disappeared and reappeared above him with a well timed Shunshin and attempted to punch him but was skewered through with a wind blade extending from Kira's hand. A moment later a log was revealed to be skewered with Anko nowhere in sight.

"I have been training with you for an entire year Anko, I know you're trying to poison me somehow, yet again." Kira deadpanned.

"You're the ultimate test subject! If anything can even slightly hinder you then it will work wonders on any normal shinobi. Besides, you're the only one who can get back up from the poisons and give me a live feedback" Anko laughed from somewhere, using a technique to project her voice everywhere so as to not give away her position.

Suddenly a small test tube filled with some liquid was thrown at Kira's general direction, who easily jumped away and was on the lookout for the direction of said throw.

What he didn't notice was Anko right behind him with a syringe filled with a clear liquid. Kira noticed way too late and attempted to blast her away with a wind blast but was interrupted by two snakes attacking his arms. Anko successfully stabbed him and injected the liquid and was grinning like a madman. "I can predict how you dodge blondie, it's just the same,I have also trained an year with you."

Kira snorted at the madwoman and flipped her the bird, before popping up in a plume of smoke.

Anko grit her teeth and screamed "THAT WAS MY ONLY PROTOTYPE! BLONDIE YOU'RE DEAD!"

"I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO TRY AND STAB ME WITH YOUR PRECIOUS PROTOTYPE WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHO USES POISONS IN A FRIENDLY SPAR?!" came an equally hysteric reply.

Anko dashed through the treeline trying to sense the man out of time when she suddenly noticed a flash of light all around her. A little while later it seemed as if the world around her had slightly dimmed.

And then she fell down from the tree.

"I hate seals" she pouted while on the floor, completely immobilised from the immense gravitational pressure on her and her immediate vicinity.

Kira emerged from the nearby bushes, with a shit eating grin. "Gotta love seals."

He deactivated the gravity seals around Anko and Kurenai landed near them. "That was actually more intense than some missions I've been on."

Anko and Kira laughed.

"So Kira, you were supposed to tell me about your wind technique, the one that took you a while to fine tune." Kurenai reminded Kira.

"Oh yeah!" Kira exclaimed. "So basically what I do is use the wind to push back against anything in my range, with the same amount of force that they're exerting."

Kurenai and Anko both looked equally confused. "What?"

"Uhh basically I use the wind to push them back with the same force that they're rushing at me. Wait lemme show you." Kira made a handseal and the wind picked up around him. A moment later the wind converged around Kira and was slight visible around his body.

"Here, try to punch me"

Kurenai looked at Anko who just motioned her to do so. Kurenai punched Kira straight in the chest, except it didn't feel like a punch. Kurenai looked utterly confused. She tried again and the punch landed but it didn't have the force of a punch.

"Do you get it?" Kira asked. "What's happening is your fist is reaching the wind around me, which is absorbing the energy in your punch and by the time for fist reached my body, it had basically 0 momentum. I don't try to say absorbed in the explanations because I don't actually absorb energy, but think of it as a very very thin cushion that will perfectly negate every blow." Kira explained to the two girls.

"I can do this on a long range as well, and that is what I generally use to pin down my opponents. The trick is to find the right amount of energy to push back, too little and it only slows them down, and too much and it blows them back."

"Why would blowing them back be a bad thing?" Kurenai asked. "Won't it help you if you violently throw someone charging at you?"

"In a sense it would but against highly skilled opponents it would be unwise to do that. Besides, on them the trick would only work once. In a high stakes battle, would you rather have your opponent gain some distance on you, or be immobilised with no warning?"

Kurenai understood the implications of that. It would indeed be horrifying to suddenly not be able to move, even for a few seconds.

"Well that's enough sparring for today. I want to move on to training, you guys are free to watch it you want." Kira said.

The girls shrugged and joined him walking back to the clearing.

Kira made a bunch of clones who immediately rushed to different parts of the forest. "Where did they go?" Kurenai asked.

"Some reading, some chakra control and others elemental chakra manipulation."Anko answered for Kira.

"Aww do I have a stalker?" Kira joked and received a punch. "I deserved that" and a kick "... And that."

Kurenai sweatdropped and the juvenile display but then smiled. She hadn't seen Anko this happy in a long time. Ever since Orochimaru had left, Anko had been depressed as she could be. Not only was Orochimaru her sensei but he was a man who truly saw potential in Anko, or so everyone thought. The man was twisted beyond logic and his discarding Anko as a test subject was not truly a surprise, but it was only after the truth of his atrocities were revealed that the village truly understood it.

Anko and Kurenai sat down at the base of a rather big tree and Kira walked forward and then stood dead centre in the clearing. He let loose a few deep breaths before bringing up both his hands to the centre of his chest and began pouring chakra in them. The palms were open and the focus of the chakra was a small ball forming in the middle of his hands. Suddenly, his left hand changed the chakra nature to fire, while his right changed it to lightning.

The ball in the middle began to distort and let loose currents and flame before Kira would stop and stabilise it, then continue pouring more and more chakra in them.

Anko and Kurenai could only stare in shock at the rather comical amount of chakra being expended from the blond, who didn't even look winded in the slightest. The only thing he seemed to be actually having a problem doing was stabilising the ball.

"I had been playing around a while with lightning and fire, trying to form anything of use with them, but they just never worked together. Anything I tried it just blew up." Kira said while finally slowing down his chakra flow. "That's when I realized my mistake", he stopped the chakra flow to show a perfectly orange ball with yellow hues and stray currents around it. "It was never about making something with them, it was about destroying with more raw power." Kira held the ball in his right hand.

" **Flash Canon!** " The ball expanded into a straight beam of raw power that shot forward at incredible speeds and impacted a tree. The beam powered through slowly and cut through that and two more trees before finally ending in a small explosion at the final tree.

"I like this move a lot because it combines the speed of a lightning technique with the destruction of fire. The beam itself isn't that powerful but it corrodes anything within seconds. It's great against slowl moving enemies or enemies hiding behind strong defences. The only downside is obviously the charge-up." Kira rubbed his right hand. "And the numbness."

Kurenai marveled at the raw destruction power, something which she had never seen the blond do.

Anko who was used to the blond doing crazy things was just grinning at the prospect of actually seeing it in combat. She had teamed up with the blond on quite a few missions, and had seen the creative ways he had taken down his targets.

"Do you think I can shorten the time-span by rapidly charging it with concentrated chakra?" Kira asked while posing thoughtfully.

A kunai suddenly flew at him and he narrowly dodged it by moving a single step sideways. Kurenai quickly stood up to scan the area for danger when Anko held her hand to stop her. She pointed at Kira who was still thinking, unfazed by the sudden attack.

"His clones attack him at random while training. He does it to hone his senses as much as he can. Few of his more…. Crazier tricks are used on him first by his clones and then when they dispel he gets to know both sides of the attack." Anko grinned at the shocked Kurenai. "It's insane. I know. He knows."

Kurenai sat back down and watched Kira practice with maintaing fire at his fingertips. Kira was trying to manipulate a single small ember to encircle his hands. It was good practice for making his fire style techniques more faster and controlled. Anko and Kurenai watched as he was either practicing control or dodging unconventional attacks including a ring of fire enclosing on him, a lightning bolt, shuriken with wire between them charged with electricity, wind blades and a lot of other attacks.

The only time he was actually caught was when a small Fireball actually swerved midair to chase him a little and actually run into a electric arc that stunned him, and get hit with the Fireball.

He chased down the clones and dispelled them. Painfully.

He doubled over in pain when the memories hit him.

Anko and Kurenai laughed way too loudly.

That's how the practice session concluded. The trio headed towards the town. Nearing the town, they heard a lot of noise and quickened their pace to check out what was happening in the rather quaint town.

They reached the edge of the town to find the inn surrounded by a crowd of unruly men a lot of suggestively clothed girls. There were a lot of men openly misbehaving with the girls who looked uncomfortable but remained quiet. They spottee the owner of the inn outside himself, being held down by two men on either side and being talked down to by a sharply dressed man, presumably the leader of the bunch.

"Mr. Innkeeper please, me and my men have traveled a long time to get here, and we are going to be traveling a lot more after this. We're looking for a place to rest and surely you wouldn't turn down such good business would you?" The sharply dressed man spoke. The innkeeper looked scared but refused to take bow down to the demands.

"I'm not renting out my inn to be a whorehouse! The prices you're stating to rent out all my rooms are beyond unreasonable! Just leave me and my inn alo-" his rant was cut short by a short scream let loose by him, courtesy of one of the men holding him, punching him.

"My my I'm sure we can work something out Mr. Innkeeper. Let's go inside to discuss the terms. You wouldn't want to inconvenience your townsfolk with our little discussion, my men tend to get quite loud." With the words spoken the man turned and walked towards the entrance, before turning and snapping his fingers, causing the men with him to start herding the entire crowd inside, starting with the innkeeper himself.

"What's happening?" Kurenai asked.

"This is bad." Anko replied seriously. "I know that man. He's nothing but bad news. He runs a very shady but organised underground crime ring. He's one of the highest ranking crime lords in the land of fire."

Kira was looking intently at the scene, but more specifically, at a certain red-haired girl being whisked away by a burly man into the inn. Kira had his eyes wide and mind running at miles per hour, to understand the presence of an uzumaki between the fiends.

"Kira? What's wrong?" Anko asked, rarely seeing her friend so quiet about anything.

"Let's go in the inn. I booked our rooms earlier." Kira began walking towards the inn. The girls looked at each other, before following him.

They walked in the inn to find the huge crowd cramped into the tiny building. The intent states directed at them by at least a dozen eyes didn't even faze the ninjas.

"Where's the innkeeper?" Kira asked with authority, momentarily shocking some of the men trying to be intimidating. Clearly not impressed with spunk being shown by a kid, the men tried to look even more threatening by laughing loudly.

"He's in a meeting with the boss. Inn's closed for today, come back tomorrow kid." One of the larger men responded. "Although," he giggled perversely, "you could leave the chicks here for the night." He leered at Kurenai and Anko. One of the men nearest to them began to walk forward before a cold chilling gaze stopped him.

"I already have my rooms booked here for the night. I want to see the innkeeper and you will either point me in the right direction or move away." Kira said with a tone matching his gaze.

The men stopped laughing and glared at him. "Like we said kid, innkeeper's not available. Just get out of here before we change our mind."

Anko began to grin on anticipation of what was about to happen before a hand raised in front of her. Kira's hand calmed her down.

The tension in the room was palpable before a new entrance to the room gathered all their attention. The leader himself emerged from a room a few steps away and looked at the newcomers. "Is there a problem my fellow travelers?" He looked at Kira and the group, scrutinizing them. His sharp eyes going over every single detail and information he could gather from looks alone.

"Not quite, I just wished to have a chat with the innkeeper. I had booked some rooms here but these nice men seemed to disregard the fact." Kira replied flatly.

"My apologies dear ninja-san. They were merely carrying out orders. The innkeeper was quite busy with me.". The men all stiffened at the mention of ninja and looked wary. "Tell you what, for the inconvenience caused, I would like to offer you something. Do you mind discussing things in private?"

Before Anko or Kurenai could object Kira walked forward ushering them follow.

Kurenai and Anko were walking in tow when a large hand smacked Kurenai's bottom. The resounding noise was minimal at best but Kira and Anko both picked it up and turned.

Kurenai herself immediately turned to face the grinning man and delivered a massive punch straight at his face. The man's head snapped back and blood flew from his broken nose. Falling down he cradled his nose and screamed.

The men surrounding him all immediately launched into action to attack the trio but all froze suddenly.

Every single man had a clone of Kira standing behind them with a kunai placed at their necks. The original Kira was still noticing Kurenai and stood unmoving, seemingly not even noticing the immediately neutralized threat.

"Now now, ninja-san. I must apologize for the grave misconduct of my men but I request you to spare their lives. I assure you that such behaviour will never be repeated again." The man requested ever so sweetly. The men all flinched at his tone, solidifying the much darker undertone it carried.

Kira looked at him for a moment before all his clones dispelled and all the men were released. The girls all caught in the crossfire of this intent standoff were obviously terrified and were looking at the blond man with fear. Kira noticed all these stares directed at him and rested his gaze at one red-haired girl, before moving away. The girl who he saw was obviously even more terrified than the rest and tried to make herself even unnoticed and smaller.

The trio reached the leader standing at the edge of the corridor and followed him into one of the rooms. The man sat down and motioned for them to follow suit. "I know you're the guard detail I hired from Konoha. You must understand the reason for my choosing to remain anonymous. I know that requesting a team from Konoha was a tricky move but I do genuinely need the protection. You see, I'm here on a collection run. I'm making a final run around the land of fire. I'll collect all my dues and move away for good. You help me do this and I'll leave the land of fire for good."

Kira thought for a moment. On one hand he could help him and rid the land of fire from a crime lord but then he would get away for life and basically live like a king after all his crimes. Or he could abandon the mission, report back and hunt down the monster in man's body and end his life, but he would risk the underlings getting out of control. They wouldn't do much damage but it would certainly get some people killed in the resultant chaos.

"Kira you can't be serious! You can't possibly think of defending him!" Kurenai screamed at him. Kira looked at her and motioned her to stay silent. "Kira you can't-" Anko grabbed Kurenai and shut her up. She shook her head motioned to stay silent as well.

Kira looked back at the man in question. He was sharply dressed and had a very plain simple face. His features were rich-looking and his clothes signified some class. But his eyes, those cold, calculating and devious eyes were the dead giveaway of his character. A merciless and morally absent man who would do anything to reach his goals.

Kira stayed quiet thinking for a few more moments. "Why exactly are you risking your entire operation by hiring ninjas? What are you planning to do that would require you to be protected by ninjas?"

The man smiled at him, " My clients aren't exactly the best of people. Some of them have debts going well into a million yen. I tried to contact them, to notify of me coming to collect my dues and they have responded well…. With death threats. To guard a million they would hire strong guards, so I needed my own guard detail."

"Why not use missing-nin?"

"The thought did cross my mind but assembling a team of reliable missing nin would be much harder, not to mention their hugely inferior skill sets. A village commissioned B-Rank team would be much better at this sort of thing."

"So essentially, you'd choose convenience over safety? It's a wonder how you managed to raise a underworld crime ring." Kira dug at the man.

The man's eyes darkened momentarily before reverting to their simple state. "I do love your questioning but I simply don't have the luxury of discussing underground politics with you. If you have made your decision then please answer my question."

Kira and the man glared at each other for a little bit before Kira spoke. "We'll take the job, but you're paying for an A-rank. This was supposed to be a non-combat oriented guard mission. With the details you've given me, it turns into a defending a hunted man."

Anko and Kurenai stared at the blond in utter confusion, but remained quiet. The man himself seemed to be taken back by the brazen demand but relented. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Just to be clear though, this guard detail is for you and you alone.I don't ensure the safety of every single one of your entourage and if they ever pull shit like that ever again, well you'll have one less guard to feed." Kira said coldly.

"Understood ninja-san." The man smiled. "It was nice doing business with you."

Kira and his stunned team got up and were about to leave when the man called out. "Ninja-san, as a sign of good faith and no bad blood between us, I'll let you choose a girl of your liking for tonight. Your rooms will be provided for in this inn free of charge and all your traveling needs shall be funded by me. I hope our stay together is pleasant" the man smiled at Kira.

Anko who was revolted at the thought of Kira being offered a girl was about to scoff at the offer when Kira answered, "I will take the red haired girl. Please send her to my room at the earliest. Thank you."

"You've got quite the eye haven't you? She's one of my most prized possessions. But my word is my face. Very well she'll be at your room within the hour."

Anko and Kurenai looked dumbfounded at the blond. Anko herself couldn't believe what she was hearing. The blond had, in the past year, never showed any interest in sex but here he was, hiring a prostitute, that too underage.

The unbridled rage in Anko was let loose soon as they were out of the room in the form of a strong punch straight at Kira's stomach, who doubled over.

"What the actual FUCK Kira?! You're hiring an underage prostitute?! If you're that desperate to have sex go find someone old at least spare a kid!" Anko screamed at the blond who just looked blankly at her.

Infuriated by the lack of response she tried to punch him again only for the punch to be caught by a blank-faced Kira. "Leave me alone, our mission starts tomorrow. Meet me in the morning"

He turned to see a disgusted looking Kurenai and walked past her. Anko was standing fuming when Kurenai grabbed her hand to lead her to into their room, the keys for which Kira had given them.

Kira went to his room and patiently waited for the destined knock.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys I'm sorry this took so long to upload. I had a pretty hectic month and had no time to focus on writing. This is the last chapter before things line up with canon, and yes that means another time skip. (Sorry guys). Enjoy this chapter!**

 **Chapter 7: Humble beginnings**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto franchise, I only own my original content.**

* * *

A light knocking interrupted the thoughts of a blond man sitting within the room.

"Come in" He sat upright and stretched his hands. A man entered the room and bowed. "Hokage-sama, Iruka-san and Hiroshi-san are here to meet you."

Minato nodded at the man and finished his work while Iruka and Hiroshi, two academy instructors walked in the room. They bowed at the Hokage and sat in front of him while waiting to be addressed. Minato finally rolled up his last scroll and looked at the two chuunin. "So, what can I do for you today?"

"Hokage-Sama, do you recall the academy reform you were trying to get passed back when you took office?" Hiroshi started. Iruka already had the beginnings of a scowl etched on his face. Seeing Minato nod, Hiroshi continued, "Well, I have started a little project with two of my brightest students that implement the reforms you had in mind and the results are just remarkable." He finished with a smile. He handed the Hokage a scroll. "This is a formal plea for implementing the reforms in the academy syllabus, and along with that is a report of my experiment this past year."

Minato opened up the scroll to find a perfectly formatted letter and scanned through the contents before moving on to the reports of the two students. "Naruto and Sasuke? You certainly picked the crowd favourites" Minato snickered. He read through the reports with a steady smile. The progress was notable and if the academy standards were raised to this level then they could have capable teams on the field much faster.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, Hiroshi-san, this syllabus is way too difficult." Iruka interrupted. "The amount of progress needed to advance through the years and the standards of the physical exams are way too high! The students will not be able to cope at all!" Iruka scowled openly. "The academy needed to be tough and pump out ninjas back in wartime, not now, during peacetime. We don't need to rush the kids out in the field, we can take time to properly ingrain values and have grow!"

"Will values save them from a missing-nin?" Hiroshi shot back. "Will knowing outdated history facts in the field save them from an enemy trying to kill them?"

Iruka glared at him. "They're important to the making of every ninja. Would you rather have a misguided tool or fair ninja?"

"There are no fair ninjas Iruka-san. We are taught to fight dirty, attack from behind, use poisons, throw dirt in the eyes of our enemy. Except, we aren't taught that. Our genin learn these things when they go out in the field for the first time, and their enemy uses underhanded tactics against them. How many people have been injured or worse due to this reality check we failed to give them? We are their teachers, we are supposed to teach them, prepare them for the world, but here we are teaching them stuff they'll never use and preparing them for a massive punch in the face called reality to knock them down." Hiroshi finally calmed down. His eyes were somewhat red and his fists clenched, glaring holes in the betrayed looking face of Iruka.

Minato sighed at this display of emotion. While all correct, he needed to calm his subordinates down and remind them where they were. He tapped his hand on the desk to bring their attention to him, at which point both the instructed flinched at the reminder that they were in the presence of their Hokage. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, I got a little carried away." Hiroshi apologized, with Iruka following suit.

"While I appreciate your strong opinions on this matter I want to understand both your points in a calm and organized way." They both nodded. "Since I'm somewhat familiar with why Hiroshi-san has his views, Iruka, I want you to explain why you don't think this reform is a good idea."

"Hokage-Sama, the new syllabus would be really difficult for most of the students. Our genin system would have a much lower turnout and the teams would suffer, which in turn would cause the entire ninja population to have a shortage." Iruka explained.

Minato looked at Iruka with an unfaltering gaze. "Iruka, what's the pass rate for the genin-test currently?"

"Uh currently the academy graduation is at 90-95% on an average-"

"I asked for the genin-test, not the academy graduation. The rate for the genin test that the Jounin teachers give."

"Oh, that. Uh it's a little around 33% I presume." Iruka said, realizing where this was going.

"If we implement the new syllabus, it would raise the standards of the academy graduation marginally. The students who passed would have a much better chance at passing the genin-test and readily moving into the world." Minato explained.

"I'll tell you what, let's do an experiment." Minato clasped his hands together. "Hiroshi, pick 12 kids from the academy to form around 4 teams. I want you to put them in the advance syllabus classes. If they pass the genin test with upwards of 90% pass rate then we will have solid proof of this new reform working while still maintaining the overall genin pass rate, since Iruka believes that this advanced reform will weed out any potential genin-test failures. I think you should pick them out from 2nd or 3rd year classes, as they need a minimum of a year to adapt to the new syllabus."

Hiroshi and Iruka looked at each other and then the Hokage. The chuunin sat for a few moments before accepting the terms. "Hiroshi, I want you to come by later with the full syllabus you want to implement, and Iruka I want you to help Hiroshi pick out the candidates. You're both dismissed."

Both chuunin bowed and left the Hokage to his work. " A new stricter academy huh? This might just work out. Of course the council will take a lot of convincing, but we'll get there when we get there." Minato mused while beginning his work again.

* * *

Kira scrutinized the girl before him with a critical eye. The red haired girl was squirming under his gaze, and was nervously looking around the room in which they were alone.

Kira sighed. This girl, looked to be about 13-14 years old and had obviously no ninja training with the way she was carrying herself. She looked scared beyond belief, and with what she believed was going to happen, rightly so.

"You're an uzumaki aren't you?" He said flatly.

The girl visibly stiffened. "Ho-How did you know?" She had tears forming in her eyes. "Please don't tell anyone. They believe I'm just random red haired girl. If they got to know I'm an uzumaki they'll either sell me off or give me away to a village!"

"Calm down. It's okay. I'm not telling anyone." He patted the bed next to him. "Sit,I want to talk to you."

The girl looked scared but slowly walked over and sat on the bed next to Kira. "How did you end up here? I know all uzumaki were killed."

The girl looked down at her feet. There was silence for a few moments before she started crying. Kira put his hand on her shoulder and felt her shudder and immediately retracted his hand. "I'm sorry to bring up bad memories, But I need to know your whole story to help you." Kira said to the crying girl.

"You can't help me! You're just going to leave like everyone else. You're here to use me… Like everyone else." She continued to cry her eyes out.

Kira waited for her to calm down a little before rolling up his sleeves and revealing a sealing tattoo. He channeled his chakra into it and released a single small pouch.

" **You sure you wanna tell her it? There are other ways to calm down chicks. I hear ice cream works well at her age** " Juubi's advice rang out in his head.

'Shut up furball. She needs this' Kira reprimanded his inner jerk. He opened the pouch and ruffled through the contents before producing a single card. He handed the crying girl the card who looked up to see what was being offered to her. She took it in her hands and read what was on it before her eyes widened. She looked up at the smiling Kira and said with a pained voice, "Is.. Is this true?" Seeing Kira nod at her she launched herself into his arms, starting to bawl her eyes out even more, "Save me. Please save me." She kept repeating it over and over again into his body. Kira let out a melancholic smile and looked at the card in her hand, his original Ninja ID card, Uzumaki Naruto's only piece of identification.

After calming the girl down enough to talk to her, he got her to tell him everything. Uzumaki Yume was the only daughter of an exiled family of Uzumaki. The exile was given a generation or two before her grandfather so she wasn't clear on the reason but the result was a family of Uzumaki living on their own, independent of any sort of control. Things were fine when she was a kid, her grandfather was a kind man and her family was happy. Then after his death, Yume's father took over as head of family and it all went downhill. All the money was spent and all their resources were getting burnt through. Gambling and other illegal activities were second nature to the new head of the family, and as a result the family suffered.

Things got worse over time and by the time Yume was 12, the bad deeds caught up to the head of the family. She broke down at this point again, remembering that night. The men had surrounded their house and demanded that they get their payment. She heard him talk. She heard him say things she still refused to believe. He offered his wife up to them, he offered his house. He finally offered his little daughter up to them as well. Yume didn't even fully understand what was happening and still looked at her father with hopes that he'll drive away the men. Then she saw them enter the house and drag the screaming form of her mother away. Yume was confused, because father should be protecting mother, and then the men came back and took her as well. She was being led away and was looking at her father confusedly, who was just laughing and trying to console the men around him.

That was the last she saw of her father, and how she had ended up here. She was sold off by her captors to her current captors and she was employed here for the past 1 year. She was used as a prostitute for all the high class clients, which thankfully weren't that many, but still she was broken down mentally and physically. Trauma became an everyday occurrence.

Kira was consoling the crying Yume best as he could, but even he was beginning to leak a little bit of black chakra. " **Think calmly Brat. Blowing up this place and killing one person isn't going to save every single girl being trafficked** " Juubi said to Kira. Kira breathed out and tried to calm himself down. He was still holding the very much crying Yume but she seemed to be near the end of her crying session.

"I'm going to take you with me, back to Konoha." Kira said. Yume looked at him with slowly and began to look away.

"It's not the first time I heard that you know"

It was like Kira had been suddenly stabbed by these words. His eyes flashed black and his fists clinched white hard. " Trust me, Yume. You're coming back to Konoha with me. No one's ever going to touch you again, and you'll be under my personal protection." Kira said darkly. Yume could see the resolve in his eyes and allowed herself to rest on him again, exhausted from everything that has been happening.

 _The next morning_

Kira was woken up with frantic knocking on his door. He woke up from the sofa to see Yume still sleeping on the bed. The redhead told him a lot about herself last night, and finally gave in to

Exhaustion and fell asleep.

The knocking continued and Kira lazily walked towards the door and opened it to reveal one of the goons from last night. "Someone killed the leader!"

Kira continued to look at him lazily and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "And?"

The goon looked hysterical, "What do you mean and?! Find the killer! You were supposed to defend him and you lot were calmly sleeping while someone murdered our boss!"

"Let me stop you right there, first off, I was not supposed to defend him. My mission starts from today morning, if I meet the client. We both just happened to be two different groups who shared an inn. Second off he's your boss and you were supposed to guard him, not me." Kira said with a bored tone and yawned.

The goon looked dumbfounded at Kira and tried to retort but couldn't think of anything to say. He punched the wall in frustration and ran off, to find the killer Kira presumed. Kira yawned again and closed the door, only to find the form of Yume stirring awake. He looked at the little red-headed girl and gave a sad smile.

"Good morning Yume." Kira said while walking over to the bed. Yume blurted out a non-verbal reply and took to stretching her arms and legs to get the sleep out of her system.

"I need you to wake up and come meet my teammates. Something happened which needs to be discussed, and I'm not leaving you alone here."

Yume nodded and quickly jumped out of the bed. She straightened out her hair and began looking around for something before looking sheepishly back at Kira. "All my stuff is in my other room. I can't get ready without them."

Kira thought for a moment before shrugging. "Come along then. We'll get your stuff after we meet up with them." Yume walked over to Kira and they both went to meet up with Anko and Kurenai.

Opening the door to the knocks, Anko saw Kira with Yume and scowled deeply. "Didn't you get enough last night that now you're dragging her around blondie?" She spat out.

Kira only sighed. "Can I come in? I have important matters to discuss." Anko huffed and moved out of the way. Kira saw Kurenai sitting on the bed inside, glaring at him.

"Alright you guys it's honestly a bit surprising you think you would believe that I'd actually fuck someone so young. I took her to my room but do you know why?" Kira asked loudly, getting tired of the accusations.

"Then what did you do with the prostitute you hired to come in your room and sleep in your bed?" Anko asked sweetly.

Kira glared at her. "She's not a prostitute Anko."

"Oh? Already catching feelings are we-"

"She's an Uzumaki" Kira cut Anko off. Anko's eyes widened and Kurenai jumped out of the bed to take a better look at the young redhead.

Yume became really nervous at having so much attention on her and tried to hide behind Kira.

"Are you serious?!' Kurenai yelled. "An Uzumaki? Here of all places?"

Kira nodded. "I had my doubts last night when I saw her, but her chakra signature when I passed by her in the hall felt very vaguely familiar. I knew it was something worth checking her out. Which is what I did last night. _Not fuck her_ " Kira glared at them with the last words.

Anko looked away while Kurenai just looked down in shame.

Kira sat down on a chair,"Now that we have all that unpleasantries out of the way, I was notified this morning that our client was killed last night."

Anko and Kurenai both looked shocked. "What the fuck? We were right here! We didn't sense anything getting in or out, or even the slightest noise!" Anko screamed.

"She's right, we would've heard any noise at the very least." Kurenai added.

"As it stands, we didn't hear anything and our client is dead. The good news is, at the time of his death he wasn't our client, so we technically have a case of client absence, rather than mission failure." Kira beamed.

Anko narrowed her eyes.

"What did you do Kira?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to Anko-chan" Kira said sweetly.

Anko face-palmed. "How?"

Kira made a shadow clone, who saluted them, before acting out cutting his own neck and then going up in a poof of smoke.

Kurenai looked confused, as did Yume who looked at each other before Yume looked away in nervousness. Kurenai felt sympathy for the young girl who was forced to live her life like this.

Anko stared at Kira for a few moments. "Why?" She asked flatly.

"He had it coming to him for a long time." Kira replied.

"Yeah but now we're stuck with his entire party going haywire. They might be criminals but at least under a leader they were less destructive."Anko stated.

"Well… I was kind of hoping to take care of that too before we left today." Kira smiled sheepishly.

"This was supposed to be a vacation. I feel like I was lied to." Kurenai said in an exasperated tone. Kira just laughed and patted her on the back.

"Cmon! It'll be fun. We can try out our experimental techniques on them."

"Only you would be that harsh. Can't we just scare them into submission? Give them to some prison?" Kurenai asked.

Kira seemed to think over her decision but Anko immediately answered, "There's no large prison in this town, and the nearest large prison is too far away for us to transport them all. The only options are to kill them or leave them alone. It's your choice Kira, it's your mission." Anko said as she sat back down on the bed.

Kira pondered for a while when for the first time Yume spoke up, "Kira-san… Please don't kill them. I know they're bad people but some of them actually helped us girls out. Please let's just leave this place." She tugged at his hand and pleaded.

Kira gave a little smirk. "Of course. Then it's settled. We'll leave for Konoha soon as we get your stuff and we will just scare the bandits a bit before leaving.

* * *

"So the client failed to appear for the mission to begin?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow. It was weird. The client had paid a lot of extra money for a simple B-rank and then not showed up.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Kira said, and then smirked. Minato felt like groaning. Honestly, almost every mission he sent Kira on turned out to have some complications. He was reconsidering assigning him a genin team. With his luck, their first C-rank would turn into something like an A-rank with multiple missing-nin trying to kill them. Could you imagine? He mentally scoffed.

"Alright that's it for the mission report." Minato put the mission scroll away. "Now, tell me what actually happened."

Kira began to explain everything that happened, with their innkeeper to his bringing a young girl he saved to Konoha. "I see. Bring the girl in, I'd like to talk to her."

Kira bowed and left the room, coming back in with a little red-headed girl in tow. The girl looked to be about 12-13 and looked to be nervous and scared, hiding behind Kira the entire time. Something about her hair reminded Minato of Kushina, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away.

"Hello Yume-chan. Kira here tells me you wish to live in Konoha, is that correct?" Minato asked the girl with a smile on his face.

The little girl nodded slightly before looking down, not being able to look into the eyes of Minato directly. The man gave off such an aura of authority it simply startled the young girl. Kira put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, only this time Yume didn't flinch.

"That's great. Now, Kira I know this is blunt but do you have any reason as to why you brought her along, and what exactly you plan to do with her? I could have her set up at the orphanage if you want." Minato asked.

"Funny, I thought you'd notice by now." Kira grinned. Minato narrowed his eyes, and then looked at Yume again, racking his brain for anything he could see. He finally understood what Kira was referring to.

"You mean…."

"Yup"

"But… That's not possible.." Minato slowly got up from his desk and walked over to Yume and bent down to get to her height. "You're Uzumaki aren't you?" Yume nodded again, still terrified of being so close to Minato.

"This is incredible. I thought all of them were dead." Minato smiled, happy that he had found another survivor. "So, Yume. Tell me about yourself." Minato asked as he sat back on his desk and motioned for them to sit as well.

 _Few hours later_

After a lengthy discussion about Yume and what was to be done with her, their meeting reached a conclusion. Yume decided that she would try her hand out at the academy after being reassured by Kira and Minato that physical strength had nothing to do with being strong, and that she could start now and be a ninja, as it is never too late to be one. Minato decided that she would be set up at the orphanage but Yume pleaded that she wanted to stay with Kira. Kira was hesitant but understood why she would want that. He gave in to her wishes and agreed to it as well. After everything was decided Minato bid them farewell and Kira and Yume went back to their apartment.

"So do you have any training in any of the ninja arts?" Kira asked Yume, having never asked her before.

"Well. I have some training in fuuinjutsu but that's it. My grandfather taught me when I was young but I remember most of it. Other than that I have no training." Yume said.

"Well I'll go down at the academy and get you sorted out but that could take a week or something. Until then I can train you in the basics of it all. You'll get the theory down with the academy. That's boring anyway." Kira grinned. This could be training for him as well, to take up his genin team later on. Maybe this could be fun.

' **God it wasn't enough that you're cutting back on the good missions and now you're actually training kids? Kill me please.'** The Juubi groaned.

'You know that they could become really strong in the future right?'

' **Yeah but they're weak now and it's boring. At least take an S-rank or something before you settle down like some old man and stay with kids all day** '

'Hush you.'

After settling in Yume at the apartment, where she Pppromptly fell asleep, Kira headed out in a seemingly random direction.

After jumping through roofs and eventually into the jungle, he reached an opening the jungle. "Well this is where the letter stated." He released a pulse of chakra.

Immediately 4 Anbu with blank masks landed in the trees around him. They looked at him before one of the Anbu motioned for him to follow them.

While following the ninja Kira noticed that the jungle around him seemed to get indescribable. He couldn't pinpoint any locations nor could he understand where he was heading.

' **Trap seals. Messes with your sense of direction and the illusions placed around here prevents you from understanding the route taken. No wonder his base has been hidden so long.** '

Kira continued to follow the ninja until they reached a bunker style gate. The ninja gathered around it and approached 2 different seal matrixes on the opposite ends of the gates. The other two ninja obstructed Kira's view but he would guess they made some specific seals to unlock the door. You can never be too paranoid he guessed.

Walking inside the bunker they descended a number of stairs before entering to see what could only be described as a huge military station, with ninja running around everywhere. The whole facility was rigged with seals everywhere, many of which even Kira couldn't decipher. He was led along the main corridor and eventually ended up before a large gated room. The ninja all stopped there and stationed themselves on both sides of the door. Kira knocked on the door.

After a few seconds the door was opened and Kira saw Shimura Danzo inside, reading something. He didn't look up at Kira when he entered, or when he sat on the chair in front of him.

"It's considered rude to take a seat without being offered one." Danzo said in a raspy voice.

"It's also considered rude to run a black ops military organisation without the Hokage's approval and to conduct missions not sanctioned by Konoha in its name." Kira fired back.

Danzo didn't say anything, he just continued to read his report. After a few minutes of silence, Kira finally spoke up. "Look I know this is some sort of power move you're trying to play but I really want to get this over with and go sleep because I've had a long day so can you just get to it?"

Danzo didn't seem to acknowledge the outburst as he continued to read. After a few moments he asked in a calm tone, "Who are you?"

Kira obviously understood what he was referring to, his original identity. A man like Danzo could easily see through his flimsy backstory. "That's not for you to know Danzo. All you need to know is I came here to help Konoha, and that the Hokage knows all that he needs to.".Danzo didn't react in any seen way to Kira's answer.

"Why should I trust you?" Danzo asked again.

"I don't need you to trust me Danzo. You're hardly the person I need to prove my loyalty to." Kira responded. "Look, if bullshit questions are all you have then I'm leaving."

Kira stood up and began to walk towards the door, when 2 Anbu blocked his path. "Danzo, I'd suggest you move them before I make them incapable of moving." Kira growled.

"I apologize for not cutting straight to the chase Namikaze-San. I'll get right to it." Danzo paused for a moment, "Now, tell me who you really are?"

Kira felt a slight build-up of chakra in Danzo's covered eye. ' _So that's how he wins over all the council.I knew his silver tongue isn't the only reason.'_

Kira was about to ask Juubi to flush out the genjutsu when a rush of Juubi's chakra suddenly filled him. As soon as it came, it disappeared as well. Danzo only had a moment to notice it and the Anbu immediately brought their swords to his throat.

"I'd suggest not releasing so much chakra for no reason Namikaze-San. It agitates the guards." Danzo said with an empty voice.

'Juubi what the fuck? I didn't need that much chakra to break out of a genjutsu!' Kira inwardly screamed.

' **Kid that wasn't some random genjutsu. I felt it. There's no mistake about it. Danzo tried to use Kotoamatukami on you.** '

'Koto what? What is that?'

' **No time to explain right now. Just make sure you activate your genjutsu disruption seal. If nothing else works I'll flush it out again. I'm cutting off our connection for the time being. I can't risk us both being affected by it.** ' With that, the Juubi cut off the link between him and Kira.

"Yeah I'm sorry but I tend to do that when someone tries to put me under a genjutsu. Old habits." Kira glared at the bandaged man.

'So he noticed? How?! The Kotoamatukami is the perfect genjutsu how did he break free?!' Danzo was having an inner turmoil but didn't let any of it translate to his face.

"You intrigue me, Namikaze." Danzo chuckled.

"And you creep me out Danzo." Kira said with mirth. Danzo let it slide.

"I'll be honest with you. I respect your work but you need to think more rationally and stop trying to antagonize every single person in the world." Kira said.

Danzo actually raised an eye at this. He spoke as if he knew about his missions. "You continue to surprise me Kira. Anyone else possessing such knowledge would be immediate grounds for capture and interrogation, but I can tell you have the best interests of Konoha at your heart."

"It's not too late for you either Danzo-san. Mend your ways. The Hokage would understand your reasoning for having a black ops team but most of the things you do aren't helping Konoha in the long run."

Danzo looked at the man, no boy in front of him. He was genuinely surprised at the boy's outlook. Danzo took a deep breath. "It's too hard to explain to everyone my ideals Kira, but rest assured. When the dust is settled. Konoha will prosper."

"That's where our ideologies differ Danzo, you're trying to make sure Konoha comes out on top when the dust settles. I'm here to make sure there's no dust to settle in the first place." Kira smiled.

Danzo had seen a lot of things in his lifetime, but a man as young as the one in front of him, discussing ideologies with him and making sense, was by far one of the most surprising things.

"Hoh? You think the world can handle peace? This world of ours is broken, boy. In the ninja world, you're either prepare or dead." Danzo said to the blond.

Kira smiled at him. "It does appear I was a bit more optimistic than usual, but it seems I can't change your ideals on my own. Very well. I'll stay out of your way, and you'll stay out of my way. As long as Konoha remains strong, and no aggressive acts are instigated by you, we're cool."

Danzo continued to smile at the blond. Perhaps he had misjudged the man. This was an interesting turn of events.

"Alright then. I'll be in touch. Perhaps we could trade favours someday. A man of your talents will be invaluable to me."

Kira nodded. This did not go as he expected. From what he had seen of the man in the previous timeline he half expected a fight to go down. He had even stationed a clone near the Hokage tower to have Minato bail him out if things went south.

After being escorted out to a different clearing, Kira headed home to sleep.

* * *

Orochimaru was in his personal lab in one of the many hidden bases. He was currently going through the notes of a very specific jutsu that he hoped to master soon. The Edo Tensei was a truly a technique with no equal. To power to raise the dead? Into immortal and unlimited chakra bound bodies? With all their personality and knowledge intact? Truly it was a technique worth mastering.

Currently he was performing experiments with this and was making no headway. The subjects were all dying way too quickly, not that Orochimaru cared in the least but it was getting annoying to him as well. It seemed he would need to get more information on the technique.

He had a plan on how he could get a to possess a very strong body with his immortality technique. What's more is that if all goes according to plan, he would not only achieve an immortal body to host his soul in, but the Sharingan as well.

Orochimaru was getting excited as he was inching towards his ultimate goal.

 _Meanwhile_

Pein sat on his throne in Ame with Konan by his side.

"We need to get stronger."

Konan looked at her partner in surprise. "What do you mean? We've gathered the best criminals in the world."

Pein said nothing but continued to stare in the rain. "We need them to be even stronger. The Bijuu are no joke."

"Gather the Akatsuki here in Ame. I'll personally meet them. We will begin the first step towards our goal of creating peace, by strengthening the guardians of the peace."

Konan bowed and disappeared in a flutter of papers.

It seems not just the heroes, but the entire world is moving forward.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey there guys! Yes this story is not dead. I'm as shocked as you are. I won't offer any excuses as I simply don't have any good ones. Moving on to the story itself, from here on out we finally catch up to the show, and we'll finally take off with the main arcs, with s couple of extras that I want to put in.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Naruto. I only own the original characters.**

 **Showstarter**

 ***1 Year later***

Jumping out of bed with excitement practically radiating off him, Naruto rushed through his morning routine. Minato sat at the table observing his son with a coffee in hand and a smile on his face. Academy graduation is a big deal after all.

Up at the Uchiha household the scene was similar, but just a little dialed down. Sasuke was rushing through his morning routine as well but still trying to look cool doing it. His parents were watching the scene with the same amusement as Minato, but didn't show it.

Both the kids met halfway to the academy and grinned at each other before racing to the academy, which had a lot of noise coming from it. Excitement was evident on every person who was headed towards it.

The scene inside the building was quite the same. Kids everywhere were either laughing or smiling. Naruto and Sasuke entered the class and immediately headed to their group, consisting of the other clan head's children.

"Excited?" Kina, son of the Inuzuka Clan head, spoke to the incoming pair. He grinned as they first bumped him and sat.

"You bet. I just can't wait to see who's the rookie of the year." Naruto said while eyeing Sasuke.

"You can say hi to him already, you're looking at him." Sasuke spoke up.

"Weird I don't see a mirror anywhere" Naruto feigned confusion. Some of the others snickered.

"Alright don't get so worked up. The important thing is the teams. You guys do realize that since you're both so close to the top that either of you could become the rookie of the year, that it's almost impossible for you both to be on the same team right?" Shikamaru, The son of the Nara clan head, spoke up from his almost sleeping position.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other for a moment and thought about it before shrugging. "I don't plan on remaining a Genin for a long time. When I'm Jounin soon I'll come and take you guys out on actual missions." Sasuke smirked.

"Oh please we'll all be stuck with Genin rank for a while. No one's even going to let us take the Chuunin exams any time soon." Ino commented. She was the daughter of the Yamanaka Clan head and the lead information gatherer in their little group.

"It-it's true." Hinata stuttered. The Hyuuga heiress was still a bit shy around people, but was getting rid of that habit. "My brother Neji is still a Genin despite graduating last year and being the prodigy of the Clan."

"Well we will just be so awesome on the missions that they will have to promote us!" Choji, The son of the Akimichi Clan head finally made his presence known, with the munching of his ever present bag of chips being his afterthought.

"That seems highly unlikely. The nature of the missions given to Genin starting out are-" Shino, The son of the Aburame Clan head was interrupted by Naruto shushing him with his signature prankster gleam in his eye. Shino knew better than to ask anymore. People learnt quickly to stay away from Naruto and his pranks. Very far.

"What? Naruto let him finish!" Sakura, one of the few civilian born ninjas in her group shouted.

"Nope! Shino was about to ruin the best thing about being a Genin! Why would you do that Shino?" Naruto replied with an extremely sweet tone, fooling no one.

Sasuke groaned. That couldn't be good. Naruto being happy usually ended up not being fun for anyone. "Well whatever. I'll be Jounin soon as I can."

The group continued to bicker back and forth for a little while before Iruka and surprisingly Hiroshi walked in. The group looked at Hiroshi and nodded who nodded back and smiled at the group.

"Alright kids settle down. Today's the academy graduation and is a very important…." Iruka proceeded to ramble on about the ninja way and the importance of ideals, while Hiroshi was standing stoic.

After the long speech the kids were given a long written test to test their academic knowledge.

After the test, the students were taken out to do the physical portion of the exam which consisted on kunai and shuriken throwing, a mock spar and some timed physical exercises.

Finally, the students were escorted back and made to wait in their classes for the final part of the exam. The ninjutsu section. Each of the students were called on by name and taken to another room to perform the academy 3 ninjutsu. Name by name, the students kept leaving the room and the academy after that, most adorning a new accessory on them.

"Namikaze Naruto!" Came the shout from the Chuunin overseeing the class. Naruto shot from his seat and ran out but not before saluting his remaining classmates and laughing.

Arriving at the next room over he saw Iruka, Mizuki and Hiroshi all sitting there behind a desk.

"Good morning Naruto-kun" Iruka smiled at him. "Please come in."

Naruto walked in and bowed before his teachers before settling in front of them. "Alright. Naruto we need you to perform the 3 academy techniques taught to you. We will start with the Henge."

Naruto nodded and made a handseal, immediately transforming into a copy of Minato with his Hokage Robes on. He grinned at the teachers before dispelling the technique. "Very good Naruto that was a perfect copy!" Iruka commended him. Mizuki too smiled at him while Hiroshi just looked on.

"Next is the Kawarimi." Iruka spoke. Naruto immediately made a handseal and swapped places with a chair on the far corner of the room, made a peace sign there and then swapped back, grinning like a madman.

Iruka couldn't help but smile. "Perfect again Naruto, finally it's the Bunshin jutsu you need to perform." It was at this moment that Mizuki sat upright and paid a lot more attention. Hiroshi too looked on at Naruto.

Naruto nodded and then smirked again. He made a handseal and then immediately 2 clones popped into existence next to him. Mizuki looked dumbfounded while Hiroshi was noticing Iruka instead of Naruto, who too looked dumbfounded.

"Very good Naruto! I'm so happy you finally managed to the Bunshin right! You've passed with perfect score Naruto, come here and collect your headband." Iruka beamed with pride.

Mizuki looked at Naruto with the slightest amount of hate before immediately turning sickly sweet, unnoticed by Naruto. He was fuming from within. How had the boy suddenly mastered the clone technique? It was preposterous!

Naruto practically teleported from his spot, to right in front of Iruka, truly mimicking the Yellow Flash in all his glory, and was hungrily eyeing the headband in front of Iruka. Iruka and Hiroshi cracked a smile while Mizuki nodded. Iruka motioned for Hiroshi to go ahead, who nodded and presented Naruto with his very own headband, which Naruto quickly tied around his forehead and jumped in the air, "I'm finally a ninja! Woohoo!"

He ran out of the academy, only to find Minato and Kakashi standing in the park and talking to a few people, almost all of them accompanying kids with headbands. Noticing his arrival it was Kakashi who eye-smiled at him first and then nudged Minato who looked upon Naruto with the biggest smile he could muster.

"Dad! Dad! I graduated! I'm a Genin!" Naruto excitedly shouted while tackling Minato in a hug.

"Good job Naruto! I'm really happy for you! Let's go out to celebrate. I wonder where we could go?" Minato thought with an exaggerated finger tapping his head.

"What are you talking about? We're going to Ichiraku! I can't wait to tell Ayame-nee and Ichiraku-san about my graduation!" Naruto screamed.

"I'm sure they've already figured it out already, Naruto." Mused Kakashi while ruffling Naruto's hair. "But yes Ichiraku's is the way to celebrate, especially your graduation."

"YAY!" Naruto had begun deciding on his humongous order already.

"You seem happier about going to Ichiraku's than graduating." Sasuke's voice came from behind the trio. He sported a new headband and was smiling ear-to-ear.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at him while Minato just laughed." I wouldn't be surprised even if that was true."

"Ramen is the food of the Gods themselves! Of course I'm happy" Naruto exclaimed.

Minato grinned at the new entry and the family trailing behind. "Fugaku-Kun! Sasuke! It's nice to see you. I'm glad to see you graduated as well Sasuke. Congratulations!"

Sasuke bowed towards the Hokage, "Thank you Hokage-sama."

"No need to be so formal, Sasuke. You've done well. Now, I need to get going back to the office. Naruto, take everyone you want to Ichiraku's later and I'll join you in 3-4 hours okay? See ya!" Minato said and then flashed away.

"I suppose we should head back soon too. Sasuke you would like to join Naruto I assume?" Fugaku asked.

"Yes father." Sasuke answered.

"Very well, and Naruto, congratulations on passing the test as well, be sure to visit with your father sometime." Fugaku smiled at Naruto.

"Sure thing Uchiha-Sama!" Naruto excitedly replied. "Hey Sasuke, let's go meet the others and head out."

Sasuke nodded and they both ran off to the courtyard, where they were trying to find their friends. They suddenly felt hands on both their shoulders and stopped, turning around to spot Mizuki.

"Hello Naruto, Sasuke" he said calmly. "I have something important to discuss with you two, if you would follow me."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and shrugged before following Mizuki into the academy building into an empty classroom. Mizuki took the seat at the table and motioned for Naruto and Sasuke to sit in front of him.

"You both have graduated from the academy today, with some of the highest numbers we've ever seen in the recent past. The teachers are quite happy with your potential and look forward to seeing you do great things." Mizuki explained to them in a sweet tone.

Naruto grinned and Sasuke just smirked.

"The teachers are content with just being pleased with your performance. However, I'm not. I see great potential in you both and hence want to offer you a special test, with which you can prove your worth and then be promoted to an apprentice instead of a Genin." Mizuki explained. The kids looked at him with confusion, while Mizuki just laughed. "I take it you don't know what an apprentice is?" Seeing the boys shake their heads he continued. "An apprentice is a Genin who is assigned to a single Jounin for special training. That is, you won't be placed into a 3-man cell, but alone with a Jounin. This is a huge chance to further your ninja career and become as strong as you can, with one single Jounin focusing on only your growth."

Mizuki sat back and let his words sink in. The kids had their brains running miles a minute to understand just how lucrative a single Jounin teacher would be. Naruto was practically giddy and even Sasuke couldn't keep up his indifferent facade and was cracking a smile.

"What do we do?" Sasuke asked with a glint in his eye.

X-BREAK-X

' _Crap crap crap crap crap CRAP CRAP_ _ **CRAP!**_ ' were the thoughts in Kira's mind as he raced through the forest.

' **It's ingenious how you manage to fuck up even the most basic things** ' came a very pleased voice from within his mind. Juubi was having the time of his life watching Kira shit his pants while blazing through the forest.

' _How was I supposed to know that they'd fall for it?! They received special training and had 2 S-Class people to nurture them since birth. How could they be so stupid?!'_ Came Kira's frantic reply.

' **To be fair, he is you.'** Juubi answered.

Kira's silence was all he answer Juubi needed to burst out laughing.

 _Meanwhile_

Mizuki was running through the forest accompanied by two hooded men. The trio weren't in a rush, as seen from their low speed and Mizuki was grinning ear-to-ear.

They landed in a small clearing where two figures were huddled around an open scroll.

"There you are, Naruto, Sasuke." Mizuki said. The kids looked up to see Mizuki approaching them with two figures trailing behind him with hoods covering their faces. The figures wore cloaks to hide their body and their only visible feature were their legs with ninja sandals and black trousers.

"Mizuki-sensei! We did it! We got both the scrolls you asked for. Does this mean we pass?" Naruto asked, while rolling up the scroll that was open. Sasuke was behind him, eyeing the two stationary figures.

Mizuki started laughing loudly. He signalled the two men and they immediately charged forward at the startled Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke had a moment's grace in he was actually focusing on them, but it was for nothing as they both were simply too fast to follow. The figures immediately placed two seals on both the kids who were thrown away from the force of the palm strike that accompanied the seals.

The seals glowed for a second before disappearing and Naruto and Sasuke stood up, ready for a fight. Mizuki smirked and charged forward himself, appearing in front of Naruto and trying to kick him, only for Naruto to dodge and fall back, Sasuke threw kunai at the Chuunin who jumped back himself. The hooded figures didn't intervene and just stood there.

"What the hell?! Mizuki-sensei why are you attacking us? Is this a part of the test as well?" Naruto yelled.

"Oh god, how stupid can you be? You guys are seriously dense. It's a wonder how you passed the exam at all." Mizuki said. "You've been set up, idiots. I'm escaping this village with the forbidden scroll and the Uchiha Clan fire style scroll and you guys have helped me to. I couldn't possibly steal those myself, so I had you steal them for me! And well, now I escape. Of course I'm taking you with me, you'll love the new village we're going to." Mizuki had an evil glint in his eyes.

Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration while Naruto stood shell-shocked."But.. But why would you do that? Mizuki-sensei please tell me this is a joke!"

"The only joke here is that you're still calling him sensei, Naruto. We need to dash. _Now_ " Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

Naruto had tears forming in his eyes as he gripped his kunai as tightly as he could, his knuckles turning white with the force in them. Naruto screamed as he threw that kunai with deadly force at Mizuki who just sidestepped it and continued laughing. Naruto had pure rage in his eyes which flashed red for just a second before returning to blue.

"Don't be stupid Naruto, we have to run and notify someone!" Sasuke muttered under his breath.

Naruto didn't look up from the ground, but his tears stopped. He quietly looked up to reveal a completely stoic face which was focusing on Mizuki and Mizuki alone.

"Oh? You're not even gonna fight? Come on, now. Make this fun for me! I even had my accomplices hang back so I could give you guys a small fighting chance!" Mizuki said, calmly walking towards the frozen Naruto.

As soon as he got within striking distance, Naruto lashed out with a hidden kunai, aiming to stab Mizuki in the heart. Mizuki caught his hand and scoffed while twisting his hand causing Naruto to drop the kunai in pain. A swift kick to the ribs and Naruto was thrown back. Sasuke came rushing in, trying to charge at Mizuki while he was overextended and tried to kick him but Mizuki used his hands to grab Sasuke's oncoming leg and push him back. Sasuke landed and tried to engage him in a taijutsu battle but was quickly thrown back. Mizuki was laughing at the pair of fresh Genin trying to take him on, unaware that they were buying time.

It was during one of the close quarters skirmishes when Naruto summoned a bunch of clones who all rushed towards Mizuki, keeping him distracted and toying with them, when Sasuke launched a fireball right at the group. Mizuki, who was too surprised at the sudden fire style technique and crowded with the clones around him took the fireball head on, and was consumed by the flames.

The two masked ninjas behind him stood unmoving, and Naruto and Sasuke ran in the opposite direction.

No sooner had they turned to run, than a half burnt Mizuki appeared right in front of them, kicking them both hard.

"You…. You bastards…. What the fuck did you do!" He roared at the downed Genin.

"Naruto! Now!" Sasuke yelled at him seeing the manic man walking towards them with rage in his eyes.

Naruto quickly withdrew a tri-pronged kunai and launched it at the ground between them and smirked. They had planned to summon Minato as soon as they slowed him down so they could escape.

Only, kunai was not accompanied by any yellow flashes or the arrival of Minato.

"Ha.. Ha ha ha" Mizuki laughed in between pained breaths. "What do you think those seals were for in the beginning? Those were designed by Orochimaru himself, to counter the tagging of the Hiraishin. It's not a perfect counter but it does subdue the markers for about a day, which is more than enough for me to take you both to him."

The sheer look of horror in the face of Naruto and Sasuke was a delight for Mizuki, who laughed even harder. There was even a snicker from the two masked men behind them. Their situation hopeless as it could be. Mizuki rushed at them again and began to beat the two Genin, who tried their best to fight back.

Kicks and punches were traded with ferocity, but Mizuki was not letting up in the slightest. After a monumental clash with the Mizuki, Naruto and Sasuke fell back again, only to be assaulted by the two men behind them. A simple hit with the kunai handle knocked their tired selves out cold.

"Ah come on! I was having fun with them!" Mizuki shouted at the two masked ninjas.

"There's already been an explosion and Anbu or worse could be coming. We need to leave. Now." One of the masked men said.

Mizuki let up finally and walked towards them, "Fine, but I get to take another crack at them back at the hideou-" his words were cut short when he noticed a tanto embedded in his stomach, attached to the hand of the masked ninja front of him. "Wha-What is the meaning of thi-this?" He gurgled out with blood flowing from his mouth.

"Orochimaru-sama has no use for weaklings who can't even bring in two Genin by themselves. You've done your part, now we part ways." The assailant twisted his tanto inside Mizuki, who screamed and then succumbed to his pain, falling down lifeless.

The two men drew their hoods down and picked up the unconscious kids and threw them in bags they unsealed, then slung them over themselves and took to the trees.

X-BREAK-X

 _Few moments earlier_

Kira's mad dash across the forest was getting madder every second with no results. His senses were dialed up to eleven for any minute detail he could pick up and save both Naruto and Sasuke… And himself from when his major fuckup comes to light.

A small explosion on his right finally gave him some hope and he pushed himself to go even faster towards it. Jumping through trees he soon arrived at the clearing where he saw a half-dead Mizuki bleeding out.

"Where are they?!" Kira asked as soon as he landed.

Mizuki could barely look up at him and just coughed blood when he opened his mouth. He pointed a shaky finger towards the direction the men took off in and before he could even look at Kira to see his acknowledgement, Kira had already disappeared.

He let his hand fall down.

One last time.

Kira ran again through the jungle but this time he could see a trail that was getting hotter by the second. He turned off all his chakra output and moved as silently as he could while tracking the two men. They were still a good bit from the village borders and he knew he would catch up to them. The only problem was that he had to incapacitate them together and without a chance to use their hostages. Kira soon could hear them running, perfectly controlled breath and heartbeat and uniform movement with no sense of urgency. They were probably high chuunin to low jounin level. This was going to be tough.

' **You know that Orochimaru would never kill Sasuke or Naruto. Just get in range and blast your 1 tail state to take them down before they even register what hit them.** '

Kira took a deep breath and relaxed a little. ' _That's actually helpful.'_

' **Don't act surprised. You think I'm going to let you fuck up my chance of bullying a Kyuubi?'**

Kira smirked.

Then disappeared.

The hooded men were grinning underneath their hoods. They were too excited at how smoothly things had gone to even notice the tiny shape that crossed over them, and then noticed too late the dark and malevolent chakra that washed over them making them feel dread.

As soon as they landed below to ready themselves, both of them found hands plunged into their chests and the dead eyes of a blond man staring into them. With his other hand covering their mouths, Kira then flushed the pure Juubi chakra his cloak was made of, directly into their bodies. They couldn't even scream and died before they could register what had happened.

Kira made two clones took Naruto and Sasuke out of their bags and checked them for any injuries. Apart from minor battle injuries they seemed to be fine and Kira finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Splashing them both with a little bit of water he woke them up. "Wakey wakey sleepyheads. We have a long night ahead of us."

Naruto and Sasuke groggily woke up to see Kira standing over them, cleaning his hands and looking over them.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked first.

"You guys were being kidnapped by some weird dudes so I stepped in." Kira said nonchalantly.

Naruto broke down and hugged Kira who hugged him back. Sasuke was still mulling over his emotions when he was pulled into the hug by Naruto anyway.

"Shush guys. It's okay. It's all over now." Kira consoled the kids.

"Why… Why would Mizuki sen- Mizuki…. Do this?" Naruto asked in between sobs.

"I don't know. Really. Bastard got off easy though. Your overeager would-be kidnappers stabbed him and ran right off." Kira answered.

The three of them were just about to break apart when a yellow flash appeared behind them. Minato appeared behind Kira who motioned to the two kids with him, figuring out that the stealing of the Scrolls had finally been noticed and was what Minato was about to ask about.

Minato noticed the two dead ninjas behind them and his eyes darkened. He held out his hand and the three ninjas held on to it, and were immediately teleported back to his office.

Minato eyed Kira first who nodded. A single handseal later all the extra shadows left the room, leaving just the 4 of them in the office.

"Full disclosure. From the starting. Now." Minato growled at them.

Naruto and Sasuke told him the entire story of how Mizuki set them up and how he tried to kidnap them and then how they were saved by Kira. Minato had been eyeing Kira this entire time, who looked highly uncomfortable throughout this whole recollection of events.

"Kira, I'll only ask this once. Are you hiding something from me?" Minato asked with his eyes boring into Kira's.

Kira looked downward at the floor and hung his head low.

"Dad why are you mad at Kira? He saved us! We're lucky he could arrive when he did!" Naruto said to his father, noticing the death glare.

"That's the thing Naruto. Kira was right there, at the exact time, at the exact place. Almost like he knew this would happen." Minato said.

Kira didn't even bother defending himself. His silence was all the answer Minato needed. "You better have a damn good explanation for that Kira. You're pushing a lot of buttons in this village, and not everyone is a part of your game. My son, and my best friend's son are NOT pawns in your grand plan to do whatever the fuck you want. Do you _understand_ that?" Minato said with an icy glare fixed at Kira.

"I apologize Hokage-sama. I had indeed gotten Intel that Mizuki would be trying to kidnap Naruto after the exams but then my Intel turned out to be incomplete and unreliable. My location was correct but my targets were off and therefore the timings were changed. I had planned to simply beat Mizuki and follow him to whatever safe path he chooses out of the village to secure that area and it's access." Kira said, on one knee and head bowed.

Minato didn't outwardly show any change in emotions but calmed down a little. "Pray tell why you couldn't let me in on this little mission of yours?"

"I...I planned to follow him a little outside the village and ambush everyone involved in this operation. If I'd told you about it you wouldn't have let me go." Kira said shamefully.

"You endangered the life of 2 Genin, just so you cause a little bloodshed?" Minato was seething at this point.

"Naruto, Sasuke, You're dismissed. Head on home and rest up."

The kids bowed at the Hokage and walked away.

"Now then.. Kira...I really want to believe there is more to this that you aren't telling me. This was not just a simple matter of killing people was it..?" Minato asked.

"This… Was not." Kira sighed. "This was about Mizuki. I wanted the bastard to pay for ruining my entire academy life, my childhood, and that bastard was about to do it again. No redemption was enough for him. I wanted to make sure he was personally dealt with, and if in dealing with him, I got a little dirt on the snake then that's just an added bonus." Kira locked eyes with Minato for the first time during the entire conversation, his resolve clear.

Minato looked at him for a good few moments and then closed his eyes in thought.

"Your heart might've been in the right place but your actions endangered the life of 2 children in this village. What do you have to say about that?" Minato asked.

"I'd planned to ambush him on the way to the meeting, having my clones meet up with Naruto and Sasuke and explain the whole situation to them and recover them and the Scrolls safely, far away from the action. That's why I was not at the clearing but on the path I knew Mizuki would take. What I didn't know was that he would be smuggling in two other ninjas and thus would be coming from the other side of the village, and avoiding me entirely." Kira explained.

"I never planned for Naruto or Sasuke to get hurt. That's my mistake and I'll take full responsibility for it. I'd expected Naruto to use your Kunai if everything went to shit, like it did, but apparently Orochimaru had thought ahead. It's ingenious that seal of his."

Minato crossed his fingers and thought patiently. On one hand Kira had planned for everything and things had just literally happened in the worst way possible. On the other hand, by keeping him out of the loop he had fucked over marginally. Sighing in defeat Minato finally stood up. "While you were trying to do the right thing, your methods were wrong. You should've informed me or ensured backup for the kids, but you didn't. For that, a punishment will be given to you at the next meeting. Fugaku will have a say in deciding what it will be since Sasuke was at risk as well.". Kira visibly flinched.

"And Kira, I've accepted you with open arms, given my full support to you. I can't excuse this sort of behaviour. I know you can't fully disclose all information you have, but you need to trust me more and not act like a lone wolf. Remember, you came to me for support, and I can't do that if you don't give me a chance." Minato reached out and pat Kira's shoulder. Kira gave him a weak smile.

"Right! That was the Hokage side of the speech done! Now," Kira suddenly felt his entire body seize up and paralyze. Minato looked at him glowing eyes and a manic grin. " Namikaze Minato, _father_ of Namikaze Naruto, has to give you a lesson."

The limits of how much a silencing seal can silence were put to the test, by Kira's screams of mercy and pleas. Even after being the fastest man in the Elemental Nations, Minato took his sweet time _explaining_ to Kira his mistakes.

X-BREAK-X

The academy was abuzz once again with excited kids. All around the academy, kids were discussing the same thing, the team arrangements.

Everyone had their own theories and guesses and kids everywhere were trying to make up the best teams they could. It was a loud classroom that housed Naruto and his group but they were all quiet soon as Iruka walked in, half out of respect and half out of nostalgia for seeing their academy instructor for the last time.

Iruka gave his big speech about the responsibility of finally being a ninja of the village and about the importance of teamwork, and then finally got to the team divisions.

After a long list of names, sitting through which Naruto was growing more and more impatient, he finally heard his name come up,

"Team 7 will be Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura! Your sensei will be Natale Kakashi!" Iruka yelled. No sooner had he finished saying the name of the sensei, than Naruto and jumped on his table and yelled, "KAKASHI SENSEI!? AWESOME!"

"SETTLE DOWN NARUTO OR I WILL KEEP YOU BACK IN MY CLASS FOR ANOTHER YEAR!" Iruka screamed at the hyperactive blond, who immediately retracted back in his seat and made the motion of locking his mouth shut. Everyone snickered at him. Sasuke was happy at being in a team with his best friend, and he thought Sakura would be fine too, her chakra control was very good and she could make traps that were really helpful. The best thing was was their sensei, Sasuke had heard a lot about Kakashi from his Clan. They were mostly divided on their views on him, either they hated him for being an outsider with the Sharingan, or they commended him to be able to wield the Sharingan even after being an outsider. What both the parties agreed upon was that he was a damn good ninja, and one of the best Konoha had.

Iruka continued naming the other teams and watching more and more people shout in joy and excitement. It was a fun moment for him as well, watching all his students grow up and finally graduate.

"Alright that concludes the team divisions! Wait here you sensei will come and collect you from this room now. Good luck students and remember, You're all ninja, Make Konoha proud!." Iruka smiled at the class and they all bowed to him, he bowed back and walked out the door, already noticing some Jounin walking towards the class to pick up their new teams.

One by one all the teams had left the class, and only Team 7 remained. Naruto had propped his leg up on the table and was reading a book while Sasuke was fiddling with his Kunai. Sakura was pacing around the room, anxious as she could be. "Why isn't he here yet?! All the other teams left already! This isn't fair that we have to wait for so long!" She wailed.

"Thinking about it will only make it seem longer Sakura, pick up something to do, we're going to be here a while." Naruto replied not talking his eyes off the book.

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Let me explain the enigma that is Kakashi. He's a very lazy, very unmotivated and very laid back guy. He's so laid back that unless it's a matter of life and death, he will always be at least 2-3 hours late for everything. Not even the Hokage is exempt from this, trust me, I've seen it happen more than enough times to count." Naruto explained to Sakura was twitching with irritation.

"Why did we get the worst, laziest sensei?" Sakura sat down huffing.

"Actually he's the best sensei out of anyone who's name was called out today." It was Sasuke who spoke up this time. " Well I can't say much for the sensei part, but he's certainly way more popular and arguably stronger than any names called out today."

Sakura calmed down by now and eased into a book she took from her bag. The waiting turned from minutes to simply an hour and then another. It was finally after 2 and a half hours that the door the the room opened up and a masked Jounin with silver spiky hair poked his head in.

"Yo" his single visible eye seemed to smile on it's own.

The kids all looked up at him and then ignored him.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Ah forgive me I was actually headed straight here but an old lady needed help crossing the road and then I got lost coming back here."

"At least use a new excuse Kakashi sensei!" Naruto smirked at him.

"Oh I forgot you'd heard that one before Naruto, I'll make sure to come up with something better next time. For now meet me at the rooftop in 5 minutes." Kakashi smiled at them and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other before continuing to read their books. 10 minutes later Kakashi poked his head in again, "Alright alright very funny. We'll just do the introductions here seeing as no one will disturb us anyhow. Let's go with pinky here first, tell me your name, likes dislikes and dreams."

Sakura finally closed her book and stood up, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like to read and spend time with my family. I dislike people who put others down. My dreams for the future is to be a good ninja and represent my family in the council."

Kakashi nodded at her, "Next is you Uchiha."

Sasuke stood up and began, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like training and my friends. I dislike narrow minded people. My dream is to be Clan head like my father, and bring my brother to justice."

Kakashi nodded again. He looked over to Naruto who stood up and began, "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like training and RAMEN!. I dislike people who judge others without knowing them. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever!" He happily sat back down.

Kakashi nodded one last time and clapped his hands together, "Alright, with that out of the way, let's get to why we're here. You guys just graduated from the ninja academy. You've all been given headbands and told that you're now ninjas of the Hidden Leaf. Well I'm here to disillusion you. You're not Genin, not yet. There's one more exam you have to pass now."

Team 7 looked dumbstruck.

Kakashi looked ecstatic. 'This is for making me wait on the roof.'

"I'll take that exam tomorrow morning at 6AM, on training ground 7. I strongly suggest you skip breakfast." Kakashi began to walk away from the stunned group of kids.

As soon as he was out the door he turned around, "Oh and one last thing. The failure rate for the test is 67%. Good luck!" He closed the door.

Chaos ensued inside.


End file.
